Looking Back the History    

         Presidential Proclamation No. 460 Series of 1932 gave birth to this institution when this land was a awarded by the national government to the former Mampising Agricultural School or MAAS (now, USEP - Mabini  Campus) as additional landholding. This area was duly planted to abaca, coconut and fruit trees. A sawmill was operated in 1954. It was not until 1959 that this campus became the an institution of learning when the first batch of freshmen male students were admitted. After the students' stint here, they had to continue their high school studies at Mampising.

          Inevitably, the mother school underwent a series of developments. MAAS became National High School and was renamed Mampising National Agricultural School. Four (4) years later, it was elevated to a Regional School for higher learning, and was again renamed Davao Regional Agricultural School or DNRAS. From then on, DNRAS expanded its course offerings. Whereas, it offered only Diplomas in Farm Mechanics and Associate in Agriculture; the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and Agriculture Education courses were added.

          These expansions in course offerings gave rise to the need of a site solely for the tertiary level. Thus, in 1978, the DNRAS College Department was transferred to its present site at Apokon Center. At that time, the college was under the control of Department of Education Culture and Sports (DECS) with Supt. Pepito D. Villarreiz as the administrator for both campuses. The first Head of the College Department was Professor Alfonso Quinto.

          With the advent of Batas Pambansa Bilang 12, four (4) government colleges were merged  to form a nucleus of the State University for Region XI namely; the UP Graduate School Extension at Matina, Davao City which became the USEP Graduate School; DNRAS to USEP Tagum and USEP Mabini; the Mindanao State University (MSU) at Bago Oshiro, Davao City became USEP College of Development and Management; and the Davao School of Arts and Trade (DSAT) to USEP-Tagum Campus.  

          Presently, USEP-Tagum has gone a long way from one-section high school to a component unit of a State university. USEP Tagum today offers: Ph.D. in Horticulture, Masters of Science in Agriculture (Animal Science, Agronomy, Horticulture, Soil Science), Master of Professional Studies in Development Education (MPSDE), Master in Extension Education (MEXED), and Baccalaureate degrees in Agricultural Technology, Agricultural Engineering, Forestry and Elementary Education. It leads in the conduct of University researches and also gives technical and scientific assistance to the province in the different areas of agricultural and technical sciences through its extension program.