The UPC traces its origins to the establishment of the Faculty of Protestant Theology of the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi (
Faculté de Théologie Protestante du Congo Belge et du Rwanda-Urundi) in 1959. It became the Faculty of Protestant Theology in
Free University of the Congo in 1963 and was later folded into the
National University of Zaire (UNAZA) as part of the centralization of secondary education in the country in 1971. It was subsequently re-established an independent body in 1974 when UNAZA was securalised. As of 2015, it was the largest Protestant university in the world, with a student enrollment of approximately 8,000. At that time, 55 percent of the students were female and 45 percent were male. ==Academics==