UPES was established in the year 2003 through UPES Act, 2003 of the State Legislature of Uttarakhand. With an ambitious vision and unique approach, UPES emerged as an innovative institution offering industry-focused specialized undergraduate and postgraduate courses, some of which cater to high-growth areas like cloud computing, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, aerospace engineering, mechatronics engineering, fine arts, big data analytics, public administration, machine design engineering, computer science, petroleum, graphic and gaming and so on.