The college was created from Embu Agricultural Staff Training (East) College in 2011, at which time President Mwai Kibaki inaugurated the EUC council to support its mission, pursuant to Legal Notice No.
In 1968 the centre was renamed Embu Institute of Agriculture and started admitting secondary school students for two-year certificate training as Technical Assistants.
University of Embu offers courses such as biochemistry, microbiology and biotechnology, law, industrial chemistry, analytical chemistry, animal science and veterinary studies, library and information science, computer engineering and education courses The University of Embu overtook the University of Nairobi (UoN) and other state corporations with its stellar performance in the financial year 2019/20.
A report by the Daily Nation on Tuesday, July 13, indicated that the university had ranked top in a study done by the Ministry of Public Service and Gender.
The study was aimed at evaluating the performance of ministries, state corporations and tertiary institutions for 2019/20 and has been in the excellent category for 7 consecutive years.