Founded on October 31, 1955, in Panchiao, just outside Taipei, as a vocational school for junior high school graduates, the academy at that time had no classrooms of its own and had to borrow space from a nearby institution.
民國四十四年十月卅一日，當時的教育部長張其昀在板橋浮洲里創立了一所高級職業學校，只招收初中畢業的學生，校長為賀翊升先生。這就是國立藝專的前身。當時的校址雖然設在板橋浮洲里大觀路，事實上校舍連一間也沒有，上課必須借用對面華僑中學旁邊的教師研習會館。