The Cebu Technological University - Danao started as Danao Provincial High School by Authority of a Danao Municipal Resolution in 1949. It was administered by a high school principal and supervised by the schools Division of Cebu Province.
The school first opened on June 1949, with a staff of one principal and three teachers and an enrolment of eighty-three first year and second year high school students. It turned out its first batch of graduates in 1952.
On June 22, 1957 the President of the Philippines signed into law Republic Act. No. 1907, sponsored by then Congressman Ramon Durano converting Danao Provincial High School into a national school. Its name was duly changed to Danao National Vocational School. Accordingly, the original offering of general secondary curriculum shifted into the Secondary Trade Curriculum.
The new vocational school started to operate on July 1, 1958. It was administered by a secondary trade principal and supervised by the then Cebu School of Arts and Trades in Cebu City, under the authority of the Bureau of Vocational Education.
In 1963, through the efforts of the principal, Mr. Antonio Cabrera, and the support of then Danao City Mayor Beatriz Durano and through expropriation proceedings, the school was able to secure an eight-hectare site in Sabang, a barrio about two kilometers away from the Poblacion. In 1964, the school transferred to its new site with one related subject building and two shop buildings equipped with shop machines donated by the Colombo Aid from the Government of New Zealand.
In 1975, a nationwide government Integrated Reorganization Plan abolished Bureau of Vocational Education. The supervision of institution was passed to the Department of Education Culture, and Sports, Region VII. The name of the school was then changed to Danao Vocational School headed by a Vocational School Administrator. In the same year, a post-secondary offered curriculum, the two-year technical curriculum was offered.
In 1978-1979, another tertiary curriculum, the Associate in Marine Engineering, was opened.
The year 1983 marked an important milestone in the history of the school. By virtue of Batas Pambansa 412, it became an extension campus of the Cebu State College of Science and Technology System consisting of the former Cebu School of Arts and Trades as the Main Campus and nine other vocational schools in Cebu.
The legislative action transformed the school into a tertiary institution with tertiary program, in the trade industrial field as its main thrust. It also ceased to be under the MECS and started to operate as an independent chartered college in 1984. Its name was changed to CSCST-College of Industrial Technology, Danao City Campus.
From 1988 to March 1997, the CSCST-CIT was administered by a Vocational School Superintendent. However, starting school year 1997-1998, the position, Vocational School Superintendent, was changed to Executive Dean. The over-all operation of the school including personnel and fiscal management was under the supervision and control of the CSCST System President officially titled SUC President III.
The curricular offerings, at the start of its new status, were still mainly secondary. However, the tertiary curricula, two-year and three-year courses, gained more enrollees. The influx of more tertiary students brought about the opening of new college degree courses like the Bachelor in Elementary Curriculum and the Bachelor in Secondary Curriculum. The school produced its first four-degree holder in 1990.
In line with its mandate, the College had to gradually phase out the secondary curriculum and focused on the higher education programs. The remaining high school serves principally as laboratory classes for the teacher-training program of the school.
Meanwhile, the College continued vigorously on its physical facilities development to meet the needs of the students.
From 1988 to 1992, the school obtained a capital outlay funding from the national government which made possible the construction of a new administration building and a two-story technical building. More budgetary outlays enabled the school to repair and renovate shops building and the academic buildings.
In response to the information technology challenges, the school acquired various equipment including computers to update the competence of faculty and students and to enhance its administrative operations. The College is now wired to the internet.
In 2009, with the effort of Dr. Bonifacio Villanueva and the support of some legislators, President Arroyo signs the bill converting Cebu State College of Science and Technology System and its external campuses into Cebu Technological University.
