Adeyemi College of Education was named after Canon M. C. Adeyemi (one of the earliest educationists in Ondo town) in recognition of his immense contribution to educational development in Ondo province. It was established in 1963 to produce qualified teachers to teach in secondary schools and teachers’ training colleges and to conduct research and experiments on methods of teaching at all levels of education in Nigeria. It formally commenced operations on 22nd May 1964 with 93 students comprising of 24 women and 69 men and has metamorphosed into a first class College of Education in Nigeria and in the West Africa sub-region. Presently, it has five schools – Arts and Social Sciences, Education, Languages, Sciences and Vocational and Technical Education – with a total of 28 academic departments.

Located in Ondo, southwestern Nigeria, the host town is rich in agricultural resources and is the largest centre for the cultivation and processing of cocoa in Nigeria. Surrounded by beautiful hills, the Ondo are known for their thirst and quest for education. Interestingly, the town is home to the first community secondary school in Nigeria and the oldest secondary school in southeastern Yorubaland (Ondo Boys’ High School founded in 1919). No wonder, it is the only town in Nigeria with three specialised degree awarding institutions, namely, Adeyemi College of Education, Wesley University of Science and Technology and Ondo State University of Medical Sciences. The royal portrait painter, Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy, MBE, who painted the official portrait of Queen Elizabeth in 2001 was born in Ondo in 1952.

Adeyemi College of Education located in Ondo (the historic town after which the Sunshine state was named, in the Central Senatorial District in Ondo State of Nigeria which is situated between latitudes 5° 45′ and 7° 52’N and Longitudes 4° 20′ and 6° 05’E and is bounded on the east by Edo and Delta states, on the west by Ogun and Osun States, on the north by Ekiti and Kogi States and on the south by the Bight of Benin and the Atlantic Ocean) is one of the foremost institutions in Nigeria. The College is a combination of the various insitutions that sprang up in the sixties to cater for the development of Manpower in secondary schools and teacher training colleges in the Western region. Teachers college (up to 1963), The Ransome Kuti College of Education, The Olunloyo College of Education and Ohio Teachers Project, Ondo all consituted the solid foundation on which it was built.