The foundation of UESI can be traced back to the humble beginning of a group of students who met at the home of Prof. H. Enoch at Poonamallee High Road for prayer and the study of the Word of God. Little did they know that, that group would grow into a National movement. A similar group was meeting at CMC Vellore under the leadership of Dr. John Moody and another group met at Govt. College of Technology, Coimbatore under the leadership of D. Jeyapaul and H.S. Ponnuraj.
Since the objectives of these three groups were found to be similar, it was felt that they should be united and form a movement for students. As a result, the students of Madras, Vellore and Coimbatore met for a retreat at Kasam near Vellore. UESI was launched there as a National movement on 18th September 1954. What began as one seed has now myriad shoots like the banyan tree.