HISTORY:

University of the Philippines

The University of the Philippines was found on June 18, 1908 through Act No. 1870 of the
Philippine Assembly.
UP first opened its doors at Calle Isaac Peral (now United Nations Avenue) and Padre Faura
in downtown Manila in 1909.
Its first programs were: School of Fine Arts; the College of Liberal Arts; the College of
Medicine; the College of Veterinary Medicine; the College of Engineering; the College of
Law; and the College of Agriculture in Los Baos, Laguna.
Its first president was an American named Murray Bartlett.
In 1915, the UP had its first Filipino president Ignacio Villamor.
Under Villamor, the UP continued to grow with the addition of units such as the Conservatory of
Music; the University High School; the College of Education; and the Junior College in
Cebu City.
UPs third president and the last American to hold the post was Guy Potter Benton.
He added more units: the School of Hygiene; the Department of Library Science; the
Agricultural Extension Service; and the creation of the university Corps of Cadets.
Rafael Palma assumed UP presidency in 1923.
Palma promoted the ideal of freedom of the mind and the determined search for the truth in
God, man and things. In 1935, UPs famous statue, named the Oblation by Palma, was installed
at the Manila campus.
Jorge Bocobo succeeded Palma. He was the fifth president of the University of the Philippines
from 1934-1939.
In 1947, the Philippine General Hospital formally became a part of UP through Executive Order
No. 94. In 1948, under the stewardship of UP President Bienvenido Gonzales.
In the succeeding years, the UP has expanded much by establishing campuses and units in Baguio
City; Miag-ao Iloilo; Tacloban City; San Fernando, Pampanga; Mintal, Davao; and the Open
University based in Los Baos, Laguna.
From one campus in Manila, it now has 7 constituent universities in 15 campuses all over the
country; it has 258 undergraduate programs; and 438 graduate programs with students from
almost every region in the country.
From the time of UP President Murray Bartlett to its journey onto another century under the
stewardship of President Alfredo E. Pascual, the university has produced 30 out of 31 National
Scientists; 34 out of 57 National Artists; 7 out of the 14 Presidents of the Republic; 12 Chief
Justices of the Supreme Court; 15,000 doctors; 8,000 lawyers; 15, 000 engineers; 23, 000
teachers and hundreds of thousands of graduates in other academic fields.

Ateneo De Manila University

It is one of the oldest Jesuit administered institutions of higher learning in Asia.

It existed in almost 150 years.
The Ateneo traces its roots to 1859, when the City of Manila entrusted to the Jesuit Fathers the
administration of the Escuela Municipal de Manila, located in Intramuros, the old walled city.
The Jesuits expanded the Escuela Municipal's primary school curriculum to include a five-year
program leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree.
In keeping with its new academic status, the school was renamed the Ateneo Municipal de
Manila.
Among the first graduates of the Bachelor of Arts program was the national hero, Dr. Jose
Protacio Rizal (A.B. 1877).
In 1901, the city withdrew its subsidy to the school, and the Ateneo officially became a private
institution. It changed its name to Ateneo de Manila, as it is currently known.
American Jesuits took over administration in 1921. In 1932, under Fr. Richard OBrien, third
American rector, the Ateneo transferred to Padre Faura after a fire destroyed the Intramuros
campus.
Devastation hit the Ateneo campus once again during World War II. Only one structure remained
standing the statue of St. Joseph and the Child Jesus which now stands in front of the Jesuit
Residence in the Loyola Heights campus.
But even if the Ateneo campus had been destroyed, the university survived. Following the
American liberation, the Ateneo de Manila reopened temporarily in Plaza Guipit in Sampaloc.
The Padre Faura campus reopened in 1946 with Quonset huts serving as buildings among the
campus ruins.
In 1952, the university, led by Fr. William Masterson, S.J. moved most of its units to its present
Loyola Heights campus.
The first Filipino rector, Fr. Francisco Araneta, S.J. was appointed in 1958. And in 1959, its
centennial year, the Ateneo became a university.
The Padre Faura campus was closed in 1976. A year after, the University opened a new campus
for its professional schools in Salcedo Village, Makati.
In October 1998, the University completed construction of a bigger site of the Ateneo
Professional Schools at Rockwell, also in Makati.
The spirit of excellence embodied by the Ateneo's inspiring namesake, the Athenaeum in ancient
Rome.
It has grade school, high school, and undergraduate and graduate programs in the arts, sciences,
law, management, medicine, education, and government.

De La Salle University

De La Salle College was founded in 1911 when the Brothers of the Christian Schools
opened their first school in the Philippines on General Luna Street in the historic city of
Manila.
Classes were conducted in Spanish for the first 125 boys of varying ages and grade
levels who enrolled and began their schooling in June 1911.
During those early years, the Brothers were allowed to offer the full primary and
intermediate programs (grades 1-4, 5-7) and a three-year commercial secondary
school program.
The Commercial High School Diploma was given for the first time to three graduates in
1915.
In November 1917, the school was granted a charter authorizing it to confer an Associate
in Arts degree.
In 1920, the school opened a two-year commercial course.
The school's catalog for 1925 listed courses for an Associate in Arts, a two-year
Commerce curriculum, and a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts (although the last two
degrees were never conferred before World War II).
In 1930, the College was authorized to confer the degrees of Bachelor of Science in
Education and Master of Science of Education.
The Bachelor of Science in Commerce degree was first conferred in 1931 after a third
year had been added to the two-year commercial sequence.
During the following years, the undergraduate schools of Engineering (1947), Arts and
Sciences (1953), Education (1959), Industrial Technology (1973), and Career
Development (1980) were established. Also established were the graduate schools of
Business Administration (1960) and Education (1963). The College of Industrial
Technology was integrated with the College of Engineering in 1979 as an Engineering
Technology Program. The Bachelor of Science in Computer Science Program was started
in 1981 upon the organization of the Center for Planning, Information, and Computer
Science. Beginning 1984-1985, the Computer Science Program was spun off as a
program under the College of Computer Studies.
The greatest step forward taken by the school in this decade was the change of status
from a College to a University. The change took effect on Feb. 19, 1975.
De La Salle has consortium agreements with schools in Metropolitan Manila, including St.
Scholastica's College, Philippine Christian University, St. Paul College of Manila, Philippine
Normal University, Ateneo de Manila University, and the University of the Philippines.

University of Santo Tomas

The University of Santo Tomas (UST) is the oldest existing university in Asia.
It is the largest Catholic university in the world in a single campus.
The institution was established through the initiative of Bishop Miguel de Benavides, O.P., third
Archbishop of Manila.
The founding of the University of Santo Tomas followed on April 28, 1611. With the original
campus located in Intramuros, the Walled City of Manila.
UST was first called Colegio de Nuestra Seora del Santisimo Rosario, and later renamed
Colegio de Santo Tomas, in memory of the foremost Dominican Theologian, St. Thomas
Aquinas.
On July 29, 1619 the Colegio was authorized to confer academic degrees in theology and
philosophy.
By November 20, 1645, Pope Innocent X elevated the college to a university.
During the British invasion of Manila in 1762, the University raised four companies of students
and professors numbering 400 men each. These saw action in battles against the British until
1764.
The expulsion of the Society of Jesus from the Philippines in 1768 left the University of Santo
Tomas as the only institution of higher learning in the islands.
In 1785 in recognition of the role of the students and faculty in resisting the British, King Charles
III conferred the title of Royal to the university and formally granted it the status of a royal
university.
On May 20, 1865, a royal order from Queen Isabella II gave the University the power to direct
and supervise all the schools in the Philippines and the Rector of the University became the exofficio head of the secondary and higher education in the Philippines.
On September 17, 1902, Pope Leo XIII made the University of Santo Tomas a Pontifical
University.
By 1947, Pope Pius XII bestowed upon it the title of The Catholic University of the
Philippines.
The continuing increase in enrolment prompted the administration, in 1927 to transfer the
university campus from Intramuros to its present site in Sampaloc district, which covers a total of
21.5 hectares.
From 1898 to 1899, during the second phase of the Philippine Revolution and the FilipinoAmerican War, and for the second time, from 1942 to 1945, when the Japanese Occupation
Forces during the Second World War converted the UST campus into an internment camp where
around 2,500 allied civilians were detained. Buildings such as the Main Building, the
Gymnasium and an annex building behind the Main Building called the Domestic Arts
building, were used as living quarters.
Throughout its more than 400 years of existence, the University has become the alma mater of
four Filipino heroes who shaped the nations destiny like Jose Rizal, Emilio Jacinto, Marcelo H.
del Pilar, Apolinario Mabini; Philippine Presidents such as Manuel Luis Quezon, Sergio Osmea,

Jose P. Laurel and Diosdado Macapagal; various Chief Justices of the Supreme Court, senators,
congressmen, scientists, architects, engineers and writers, all outstanding in their chosen
professions.
It was visited by three popes, Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II, , and Pope Francis, and various
heads of states and foreign dignitaries.