On December 13, 1989, the Mati Community College (MCC) was converted into Davao Oriental State College of Science and Technology (DOSCST) by virtue of Republic Act 6807. The aforementioned law was authored by Mayor Thelma Z. Almario when she was the Representative of the 2nd district of Davao Oriental.

On May 20, 1990, Dr. Julieta I. Ortiz was appointed as founding president. The newly chartered college started operations in June 1990.

And with its new mandate provided by its charter, curricular programs were reoriented towards science and technology. Classes were initially held in three buildings located at the old site at Barangay Sainz until the college moved to its present 10-hectare site, 5 km away from Mati, Davao Oriental proper in September 1991. Mindanao Agro-Pioneers Corporation owned by the heirs of the late Don Jose Corro Martinez Sr. donated this site, a flat land about 300 meters from the shores of Pujada Bay.