Salesians arrived in Ecuador in 1888 as a result of the agreement signed by Don Bosco and the representative of the Ecuadorian government in Turin, Italy.

Universidad Politécnica Salesiana was created to respond to the needs of additional education beyond adolescence; it was officially created on August 5th, 1994 and today it has three branch campuses in Cuenca (headquarters), Quito and Guayaquil.