In 1923, the first Burmese veterinarian, Pe Than, a graduate of Bengal Veterinary College, was appointed a vet superintendent at the school.

In February 1925, Governor Sir Harcourt Butler laid the foundation stone for the construction of the school's new building in Insein that would later bear his name.

The school's four-year BSc (Veterinary) program accepted university students who passed Intermediate Science Part II with distinctions in zoology, chemistry and physics.

In 1964, the college became the Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science (IAHVS) (တိရိစ္ဆာန်မွေးမြူရေးနှင့်ဆေးကုသရေးတက္ကသိုလ် [təɹeɪʔsʰàɰ̃ mwémjùjé n̥ɪ̰ɰ̃ sʰé kṵθa̰jé tɛʔkəθò]), under the Ministry of Education, offering a six-year BVSc program.

[citation needed] During the 1990s, the UVS like most universities in the country was repeatedly closed by the military government fearing of student unrest.

[citation needed] Some staff from UVS were also supported by German Academic Exchange (Deutscher Akademisher Austauschdienst, DAAD).