PUP continues to be a true leader in innovative education. Starting with the concept of the ladderized curriculum in the 1970s to no-traditional studies (equivalency and accreditation system) in the late 1980s, PUP first thought of the Open University concept when then PCC President Nemesio E. Prudente saw the need to provide access to educational opportunities to millions of Filipinos who would like to study but were constrained by time, distance and other circumstances. However, the initial implementation plan fizzled out when Martial Law was declared in 1972.

When Dr. Prudente was reinstated as PUP President in 1986, he again revived the concept of the Open University system until its formal launching in 1990. While broadcast-based distance learning systems started in the Philippines in the 1960s, it was PUP which first implemented the concept of Open University, that is, a university within a university offering both degree and non-degree programs in the country duly certified by corresponding certificates or diplomas upon satisfactory compliance with course requirements.