Our university grew out of educational institutions in Puerto Rico and Cuba. The Seventh-day Adventist Church opened its first school in Aibonito, Puerto Rico, in 1920. In 1946 it established the Metropolitan Adventist Academy, a comprehensive high school, in Santurce.
In 1957 the Puerto Rican Adventist College was founded in Mayagüez. In May 1961, he received authorization to offer the university-level programs that had been offered at the Colegio de las Antillas in Santa Clara, Cuba. In September of that year, it was changed to the Puerto Rico Adventist College; and later, in March 1962, the name was changed to Antillean College.
On August 18, 1989, the Council of Higher Education authorized the new name of Antilles Adventist University (UAA).