The University of the Philippines (or Unibersidad ng Pilipinas in Filipino and commonly abbreviated as U.P.) is the only national university of the Philippines.Founded in 1908 through an act of Philippine Legislature, the University provides tertiary-level education in almost every field, from law, medicine, engineering, political science and other social sciences to public health, natural sciences, agriculture and the humanities.
U.P. was the highest ranked Philippine university in THES-QS World University Rankings in 2006 and 2007 and the final edition of the Asiaweek's Best Universities in Asia in 2000.
U.P. has the most number of National Centers of Excellence and Development among all higher education institutions in the country and one of only three schools in Asia that have received institutional recognition in the Ramon Magsaysay Awards.
U.P. graduates frequently top the professional board examinations administered by the Philippine Professional Regulation Commission in nearly all professional fields, and its College of Law has produced 49 out of 107 of all top notchers (those who ranked as No. 1 nationwide in each year) in the Bar examinations administered by the Philippine Supreme Court.The University is noted for its highly politicized student leaders who promote various causes as well as positions on pressing national issues.
U.P. has educated some of the country's most popular political and social leaders, economists, lawyers, medical doctors, creative artists and entrepreneurs.
Several Philippine Presidents have attended courses in the University either as undergraduates or as postgraduate students, while 30 out of the 50 National Artists and 28 out of the 29 National Scientists of the Philippines are affiliated with the University.
U.P. is partly subsidized by the Philippine government, making its students essentially scholars of the national government. This makes admission into the University extremely competitive.
In 2006, a record 70,000 applicants flocked to test centers nationwide to take its admission test, University of the Philippines College Admission Test (UPCAT) for undergraduate admission.
In 2006, a record 70,000 applicants flocked to test centers nationwide to take its admission test, University of the Philippines College Admission Test (UPCAT) for undergraduate admission.
But of the 70,000 applicants who took this test, only around 11,000 of the top-ranked applicants (18%) were successfully admitted for the year 2006. Of the 82% of the other fiercely competitive applicants who were unsuccessful, included in it unfortunately are some high school valedictorians from around the country.
Hence, U.P. students and graduates are popularly referred to as "Iskolar ng Bayan" ("Scholars of the Nation").
Hence, the government subsidy, being basically an academic scholarship, saves a U.P. student's family a huge amount in tuition and university fees.
The foremost symbol of U.P. is the Oblation. This is a figure of a naked man, with arms outstretched and face pointed upwards. The Oblation is based on the second stanza of Jose Rizal's Mi Ultimo Adios, which is replete with references of selfless dedication and service to the nation.
In line with the celebration of the University's centenary, the year 2008 has been proclaimed as the "UP Centennial Year" and the years 1998-2008 as the "University of the Philippines Decade."
HISTORY
The University of the Philippines was established in 1908 as the University for the Philippine Islands by an act of the First Philippine Legislature Act No. 1870, otherwise known as the University Charter, specified the function of the University, which is to provide advanced instruction in literature, philosophy, the sciences, and arts, and to give professional and technical training. The University began with the establishment of the Philippine Medical School (later incorporated into the University as the College of Medicine and Surgery)in 1905, which started operating in 1907, a year ahead of the rest of the UP System.
Together with the College of Fine Arts and the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Medicine occupied buildings distributed along Padre Faura (Ermita district) and R. Hidalgo (Quiapo district) in Manila as well as a School of Agriculture in Los Baños, the University Charter, specified the function of the University, which is to provide advanced instruction in literature, philosophy, the sciences, and arts, and to give professional and technical training. A few years after, the university opened the College of Law and the College of Engineering in Manila, as well as academic units under the College of Agriculture and Forestry in Los Baños. It became necessary for U.P. to establish more academic programs, as well as to expand its facilities. The Board of Regents approved the need to look for a larger site, and a 493-hectare lot was acquired by the university in Diliman, then a town under the province of Rizal. Construction of the new campus immediately began in 1939.
During World War II, U.P. had to close most of its colleges except the Colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Engineering. Meanwhile, the Japanese Imperial Army occupied two Diliman campus buildings: the College of Liberal Arts Building (now Benitez Hall) and the Colleges of Law (now Malcolm Hall) and Business Administration Building. After the war, the new Diliman buildings were devastated. U.P. President Bienvenido Ma. Gonzalez sought a grant of Php13 million from the US-Philippines War Damage Commission. A massive rehabilitation and construction effort was executed by the university during the post war years. For the first time, an extensive Diliman campus master plan and map were created in 1949. The map created what became visions for Diliman’s expansion projects. More buildings were to be built across the Diliman campus’ landscape: the University Library (Gonzalez Hall), the College of Engineering (Melchor Hall), the Women's Residence Hall (now Kamia Residence Hall), the Conservatory of Music (Abelardo Hall), the Administration Building (Quezon Hall), and the U.P. President's Residence . Most colleges and administration offices were temporarily housed in huts and shelters made of sawali and galvanized iron.
During UP's 40th anniversary in February 1949, central administrative offices of U.P,. were moved from Manila to Diliman together with the transfer of the Oblation. Administrative offices of U.P. and its regional units in Manila, Los Baños, Baguio, and Cebu were all housed in the Diliman campus. General commencement exercises were also held in Diliman for the first time in 1949.
In the 1950s, UP reformulated its approaches to tertiary education by establishing new academic units and degree programs. Another major reform, the General Education (G.E.) Program, was introduced in 1959. The G.E. program became a series of core courses prescribed for all students at the undergraduate level. Most of these courses were being taught at the old College of Liberal Arts. As a result, UP President Vicente Sinco saw fit to reorganize the college into a University College, which would offer the core subjects to be taken during the first two years of the undergraduate program. The College of Arts and Sciences and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, on the other hand, offered major courses in the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. During President Sinco's term, more institutes and colleges were established. These institutes and colleges include the Institute of Public Administration (1952), the Statistical Center (1953), the Labor Education Center (now the School of Labor and Industrial Relations, established in 1954), the Asian Studies Institute (now the Asian Center, established in 1955), the Institute of Library Science (1961), and the College of Home Economics (1961).
The administration of Carlos P. Romulo was marked by the founding of the Population Institute, the Law Center and the Applied Geodesy and Photogrammetry Training Center in 1964, the Institute of Mass Communication, the College of Business Administration, and the Institute of Planning in 1965, the Computer Center, the Institute for Small-Scale Industries in 1966, the Institute of Social Work and Community Development in 1967 and the Asian Center in 1968.
During the Martial Law period U.P.'s administrators tried to sustain the university's educational priorities and institutional autonomy. At the height of activism in the university, U.P. President Salvador P. Lopez established a system of democratic consultation in which decisions such as promotions and appointments were made through greater participation by the faculty and administrative personnel. Lopez also reorganized U.P. into the U.P. System. In November 1972, the Los Baños campus was the first to be declared an autonomous unit under a chancellor. A Php150 million grant from the national budget boosted UP's Infrastructure Development Program. In Diliman, it funded the construction of buildings for the Colleges of Business Administration and Zoology, the Institute of Small-Scale Industries, the Transport Training Center, and the Coral Laboratory of the Marine Sciences Institute. Kalayaan Residence Hall and housing for low-income employees were also built around this time.
The administration of Carlos P. Romulo was marked by the founding of the Population Institute, the Law Center and the Applied Geodesy and Photogrammetry Training Center in 1964, the Institute of Mass Communication, the College of Business Administration, and the Institute of Planning in 1965, the Computer Center, the Institute for Small-Scale Industries in 1966, the Institute of Social Work and Community Development in 1967 and the Asian Center in 1968.
During the Martial Law period U.P.'s administrators tried to sustain the university's educational priorities and institutional autonomy. At the height of activism in the university, U.P. President Salvador P. Lopez established a system of democratic consultation in which decisions such as promotions and appointments were made through greater participation by the faculty and administrative personnel. Lopez also reorganized U.P. into the U.P. System. In November 1972, the Los Baños campus was the first to be declared an autonomous unit under a chancellor. A Php150 million grant from the national budget boosted UP's Infrastructure Development Program. In Diliman, it funded the construction of buildings for the Colleges of Business Administration and Zoology, the Institute of Small-Scale Industries, the Transport Training Center, and the Coral Laboratory of the Marine Sciences Institute. Kalayaan Residence Hall and housing for low-income employees were also built around this time.
Onofre D. Corpuz declared U.P. Manila, then known as the Health Sciences Center, and U.P. Visayas as autonomous units. At the same time, the Asian Institute of Tourism (AIT) was established in light of the prioritization of tourism as a national industry. New centers for research and degree-granting units such as the Third World Studies Center (1977), Creative Writing Center, National Engineering Center (1978), U.P. Extension Program in San Fernando, Pampanga (1979), which is now in Clark Field, Angeles City, Institute of Islamic Studies (1973), U.P. Film Center, National Center for Transportation Studies (1976) were also established. U.P. celebrated its 75th year 1983. In the same spirit, a U.P. Extension Program in Olongapo was also established in 1984.
Edgardo Angara's Diamond Jubilee project raised P80 million which was earmarked for the creation of new professorial chairs and faculty grants. Angara also organized the Management Review Committee (MRC) and the Committee to Review Academic Programs (CRAP) to evaluate and recommend measures for improving university operations. The MRC report led to a wide-ranging reorganization of the U.P. System, the further decentralization of U.P. administration, and the declaration of U.P. Diliman as an autonomous unit on March 23, 1983. U.P. Baguio was then placed under the supervision of U.P. Diliman. Meanwhile, the College of Arts and Sciences also underwent a reorganization to become three separate colleges: the College of Science, the College of Arts and Letters, and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy.
As the flagship university, U.P. Diliman leads the rest of the units in sheer size. On April 26, 1982, it was formally designated as a constituent university, almost a decade after the reorganization. Even if Diliman was the seat of the UP Administration, the campus was not immediately constituted after 1972 although it was administered, along with the Manila units prior to the organization of the Health Sciences Center, as a de facto university.
President Jose Abueva introduced the Socialized Tuition Fee Assistance Program (STFAP) in 1987. Abueva also institutionalized a Filipino language policy within the university. President Emil Javier established the creation of U.P. Mindanao at Silicon Gulf, Southern Mindanao, and the U.P. Open University in 1995.
President Francisco Nemenzo’s legacy includes the Revitalized General Education Program (RGEP) and the institutionalization of more incentives for research and creative achievements by U.P, faculty members. President Emerlinda Roman, from the College of Business Administration (CBA), is spearheading a Centennial Campaign Fund envisioned to upgrade the university’s services and facilities in time for U.P.’s 100th year in 2008. Her term of office has been noted for the ascension of several key professors from the CBA to positions of power within the university. Notable among them is U.P. Diliman Chancellor Sergio S. Cao, Assistant Vice President for Planning and Development, Prof. Arthur S. Cayanan, Director of the UP System Budget Office, Prof. Joselito G. Florendo, Dr. Lina J. Valcarcel Executive Director, UP Provident Fund, Inc. and U.P Foundation, Inc. Executive Director Gerardo B. Agulto.
Centennial Celebration
On January 8, 2008, the University of the Philippines (UP) began its centennial celebration with 7 universities with 12 campuses offering 258 undergraduate and 438 graduate programs. It produced 7 of 14 presidents, 12 chief justices of the Supreme Court, 30 of 31 national scientists and 36 of 57 national artists, 250,000 UP alumni (15,000 doctors, 8,000 lawyers and 23,000 teachers).
Fernando Javier, 100, of Baguio City, oldest UP alumnus (Civil Engineering from University of the Philippines, Manila, 1933), carried the 100-torch relay at the UP academic oval in Diliman, Quezon City; 99th torchbearer was Michael Reuben Dumlao, youngest, a 6-grader from the University of the Philippines Integrated School in U.P. Diliman; UP president Emerlinda Roman, first woman president, carried the 100th torch and ignited the centennial cauldron in the UP Oblation.
Fernando Javier, born on June 18, 1908 on Padre Faura in Manila, led hundreds of “Isko’t Iska” (Iskolar ng Bayan) and he lit the "perpetual flame" on the centennial cauldron at Quezon Hall which initiated U.P.'s year-long centennial celebration.
The cauldron features 3 pillars - 3 core values and 7 flowers - the constituent universities, to wit, UP Manila, UP Diliman (together with UP Pampanga, its extension campus), UP Los Baños, UP Baguio, UP Visayas, UP Mindanao, and UP Open University.
Meanwhile, on January 9, 2008, an electrical overload burned a University of the Philippines, Diliman "condemned" dormitory at the Narra Residence Hall, corner of Quirino Street and Katipunan Avenue. No one was hurt.
Academics The University offers 246 undergraduate degree programs and 362 graduate degree programs, more than any other university in the country.
The flagship campus in Diliman offers the largest number of degree programs, and other campuses are known for specific programs.
The University has 57 Degree-Granting Units throughout the system, which may be a College, School or Institute that offers an undergraduate or a graduate program. In the Los Baños campus, a separate Graduate School administers the graduate programs in agriculture, forestry, the basic sciences, mathematics and statistics, development economics and management, agrarian studies and human ecology.
The School of Public Health at UP Manila has a collaboration with Boston University School of Public Health. This program allows several students from Boston University to do a semester of coursework at UP Manila as well as an international field practicum in the Philippines. The University has 4,135 faculty, trained locally and abroad with 75% having graduate degrees.
The University is one of the three Universities in the Philippines affiliated with the ASEAN University Network, and the only Philippine university to be affiliated with the ASEAN-European University Network and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities.
The University is ranked 299 and 398 on the Times Higher Education Supplement Rankings in 2006 and 2007 respectively, and 48 in the Asiaweek's Best Universities in Asia last published in 2000, making it the highest ranked Philippine university in both lists, but ranking poorly in research and financial resources.
In 2006, the University, through President Emerlinda Román, has expressed that it does not want to participate in the THES Ranking, but was included in 2007 with an incomplete academic profile.
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