The year 1991 marks the beginning of the first phase in the history of Unity University College (UUC); a milestone that paved the way for the establishment and subsequent rapid expansion of UUC. Initially a language school was established, offering courses in English, Arabic and French, but later the same year a preparatory program for the Ethiopian School Leaving Certificate Examination (ESLCE) was also on offer. The school grew rapidly over the next three years, both in terms of the size of the student population and the number of teaching staff. Then in 1994 a certificate program in basic law was launched and subsequently upgraded to a diploma program. In addition, new courses in business administration, food, and beverage services were offered and the school changed its name to Unity Law, Language and Vocational Institute.

The second phase ran from 1997 to 1999, during which time diploma programs in Accounting, Marketing, Business, Personnel Administration and Secretarial Science were launched and Unity Law, Language and Vocational Institute became Unity College (UC).

The third phase witnessed not only the consolidation of the existing diploma programs but also a significant expansion in the range of programs offered, starting with the introduction of new Accounting, Management, and Economics degree courses in 1999. In 2000 additional degree program in Management Information System (MIS) was launched and in 2002 additional degree programs in Law, Marketing, Management, Computer Technology, English, Statistics, and Mathematics were made available to regular and extension students. In August 2002, Unity College was officially renamed Unity University College.

Since then UUC has focused on consolidating its regular, extension, and distance education degree programs. It has evaluated and extensively reviewed all existing curricula and in addition has undertaken careful preparations for the introduction of new undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs.