VIVES University College was formed from the merger of two colleges in West Flanders, KHBO in the north of the province and KATHO in the south. KHBO and KATHO signed a letter of intent to cooperate on 23 June 2010. The merger and name were announced on 21 December 2012.
KHBO and KATHO had earlier come into existence in 1995. Indeed, the decree of 13 July 1994 on colleges of higher education in the Flemish Community stipulated that existing educational institutions should unite into larger, multidisciplinary entities. Across Flanders, 162 higher education institutions were merged into twenty-nine university colleges.