The Bicol State College of Applied Sciences and Technology has been existing as a learning institution since 1911 when is started as the Camarines Sur Trade School offering trade courses in the intermediate level, offering carpentry, drawing and trade arts. Since then, it underwent several changes in its name: By virtue of House Bill no. 2919 (R.A. 825),  the school was nationalized and renamed Camarines Sur National School  of Arts and Trades (CSNSAT) in 1954, and began to offer the two- year post- secondary trade- technical education. Later it adopted the name Camarines Sur National College of Arts and Trades (CSNCAT). Then, through R.A. No. 5056, the CSNSAT was converted into a College and renamed Bicol College of Arts and Trades (BCAT) and was authorized to offer courses like Bachelor of Science in Industrial Education (BSIE).

Tertiary level was immensely expanded to cover other fields of trade- technical education, thus the Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology (BSIT) was opened in 1977.  In 1988, by virtue of DECS Order no. 39, s. 1988, the Teacher-Education component was expanded through the  offering of the Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSEd), major in Technology and Home Economics (THE), Mathematics, English and Physics; and Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education (BEEd) with the area of specialization in Home Economics and Livelihood Education (HELE).  In 1997, BCAT started its offering of Engineering courses namely: Electrical Engineering (BSEE)  Electronics and Communications Engineering (BSECE), Mechanical Engineering (BSME) and Bachelor of Science in Architecture (BSA).

In December 2000, pursuant to Republic Act 8760, on the integration of CHED Supervised Institution (CSI’s) to State Universities and College (SUC’s), BCAT was  integrated to the Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges (CSPC) in Nabua, Camarines Sur   and was known as CSPC Naga Campus.

In October 19, 2012, under the sponsorship of Cong. Luis R. Villafuerte of the 3^rd District of Camarines Sur, Pres. Benigno Aquino III signed the passage of RA 10231 formally separating the school from CSPC and naming it the Bicol State College of Applied Sciences and Technology (BISCAST) with its first President, Dr. Richard H. Cordial. With its impressive new moniker,  the institution is given its  new mandate,  

“To primarily provide advanced education, higher technological, professional and vocational instruction and training in the sciences, arts, education, entrepreneurship, engineering and other related courses. It shall also undertake research and extension services and provide progressive leadership in its areas of specification.”

At present, as the only state college for Applied Sciences and Technology in the country, it requires a paradigm shift of its mission, vision, goals and objectives. Responding to the directive of the Commission on Higher Education, through its Board of Trustees, the College embarked on creating its Strategic Plan for 2013-2017. The main purpose of the strategic planning is to identify future challenges and describe the actions the College intends to take to overcome them. The plan also identified programs and projects that will be the focus of government’s investments and support to the college in the next five years. More importantly, the plan focused towards the vision of the college to be a premier applied sciences and technology institution recognized as a prime mover for creativity, innovations and moulder of globally competitive graduates.

Relying closely on priority programs of relevant government agencies such as the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the Strategic plan set its sight on primarily enhancing its curriculum by offering new and unique programs to comply with its new mandate.  These programs should address the development programs of the country on poverty alleviation and economic growth. Programs should create the environment of opportunities for its graduates to engage in high-paying jobs to improve the economic status of the community members.  It should include standards that are globally competitive in order to equip the graduates with capabilities at par with international standards.

In 2015, BISCAST started to offer two new programs under the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), the Bachelor of Science in Entertainment and Multimedia Computing (BSEMC) and Bachelor in Physical Education (BPE).  In 2017,  new programs were opened, the Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (BSCE) and the Bachelor of Engineering Technology (BET) with several majors. For SY 2018-19, with the initial influx of new graduates from the K-12 curriculum,  BISCAST duly adopted all new Policy Standards and Guidelines (PSG’s) in all its curricular programs, including the offering of new programs under the CAS, the Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship (BS Entrep) and Bachelor of Science in Food Technology (BSFT).

Hand in hand with new curricular programs is the establishment of strategic centers to cater to the research, extension and resource generation functions of the College; Center for Applied Science, Technology Innovation & Commercialization, Regional Business Resource Center, Center for Industrial Attachment Program  and Foreign Language Center.  Complimenting these innovations would be upgrading of laboratories and information technology and physical facilities to make them all compliant to CHED requirements and standards.

The Institution is fully committed to an education model that judiciously bridges theories and practice and supports productive studies and applied researches at multiple levels, thus providing for flexible pathways that allow delivery of a wide array of credentials across a broad range of disciplines.

The Institution’s Mission, Vision and Core Values recognize its duty to: (1) the law that creates it – the country, (2) the recipients of its endeavors – the inside and outside community, and (3) the achievers of its dreams – the students. It centers on total transformation and advancement that is believed to address the important social and economic issues and challenges of the region, of the nation, and later on, of the world. The CSNCAT, the BCAT and then CSPC- Naga Campus, now BISCAST, takes pride in its distinguished history that saw the growth of this institution. Thousands of young men and women have passed through its portals and are now productive citizens or community leaders. It has survived more than 100 years as an institution of learning and served generations of Bikolanos. It remains to this day, a premier source of Engineering, Architecture, Technology, Applied Sciences, and Teacher Education.