Udupila vidyalaya was first established in the year 1920 on a small hill side named Bandahena, which was donated by Thilakarathne Muhandiram in the village of Udupila. When the school was founded, the number of students was about 100 and the staff was composed of five. The school was first started in a 90-foot-long hall roofed with coconut branches, and a small room was built in the school. Mr. Basanayake was the first Principal of this college. In 1926, Mr. Basnayake retired and D.M. Ramanayake, a resident of Udupila village, was appointed as the principal of the college. During his time, the number of students increased to two hundred and the teaching staff to eight. For the increased number of students, the existing school building was demolished and a large building roofed with coconut branches was constructed. At this time only boys were educated here, so Mr. Ramanayake built a separate school for the girls in the village of Udupila.  After this, Mr. Somathilake and Mr. Vanasinghe have served as principals of Udupila College. In 1942, the school building managed to roof the tiles thanks to the assistance of Mr. R.P.Senanayake, the Member of Parliament.

In the year 1959, the principal, Mr. Adhikari, established the school for girls at the site of The Udupila Hospital and converted it into a mixed school. The school, which was a junior college until then, was converted into a college on January 1, 1964. In the year 1977, the school made great progress in terms of physical resources and another single-story building and a two-story building were built in the school. The school has occasionally seen the construction of two more one-story buildings, a fully functional laboratory, a library, a computer unit in 2003, a new monastery in 2010, and a three-story structure in 2013. Similarly, in 2016, a fully equipped toilet system was constructed for the students at a cost of Rs. 19 lakhs under the Sanitation Initiative Project and in 2019, a well-equipped classroom with 08-tab computers was constructed for the students.