An OTC has existed in Exeter until it lapsed in 1945 and prior to the units' reformation undergraduates from Exeter University who wished to join an OTC traveled to Bristol.

With the establishment of the Polytechnic South West in Plymouth and the enlargement of Exeter University, the unit was reformed on 1 April 1980.

Major General John Acland KOB CBE was our first Honorary Colonel and the unit occupied 12 dilapidated huts in Higher Barracks, Exeter.

The unit rapidly grew in numbers and, as costs increased in maintaining the unit, it was decided to move to Wyvern Barracks.

In February 1988 the Honorary Colonel opened the Acland Building which had been specifically built to house EUOTC.

On it's reformation in 1980, Exeter UOTC wore the cap badge of the Wessex Regiment, but in 1982, the Army Dress Committee approved the design for the UOTC's own cap badge which depicts the castle symbol from the coat of arms of the City of Exeter and the Wyvern, the mythical heraldic beast, which has been the badge of fighting men of the Kingdom of Wessex since the Dark Ages.