UP Mindanao

The University of the Philippines, the first and premier state institution of higher learning in the country, was founded on June 18, 1908 by an act of the First Philippine Legislature. Act No. 1870, otherwise known as the University Charter, specified the functions of the University, which are to provide advanced. instruction in literature, philosophy, the sciences, and arts, and to give professional and technical training.
Beginning with the operation of the School (now College) of Fine Arts and the College of Agriculture in 1909 and the transfer of the Philippine Medical School (now College of Medicine) in 1910, the University has since undergone considerable growth. From the initial three colleges, ten more were organized within the first decade. In 1968, 60 years after its founding, the University had 28 colleges in 3 campuses in addition to 5 regional colleges.

Through Presidential Decree No. 52, dated November 20, 1972, the President of the Republic .authorized the Board of Regents to establish a University of the Philippines System so that the University may serve as a more effective instrument of national development while maintaining its commitment to arts, letters, and the humanities, as well as to the pursuit of truth and the highest standards of academic excellence. Such reorganization was effected by preserving the institutional unity and academic integrity of the University while allowing for decentralization of authority and autonomy of the component units. UP Los Baños, the agricultural center for Asia, was designated as the first constituent member. This reorganization was approved by the Board of Regents at its 828’h meeting on November 21, 1972, effective January 1, 1973.

On November 22, 1973, a presidential decree created the Philippine Center for Advanced Studies as the second constituent member university. It was abolished however on July 9,1979 except for its academic programs and two of its institutes which were retained by the University.

At its 894th meeting on October 28, 1977, the Board of Regents approved the establishment of a Health Sciences Center. On January 24, 1979, an executive order provided the mechanism for the establishment of the Health Sciences Center (now UP Manila) as another constituent member of the reorganized University.

The UP Visayas (Iloilo) was established by the. Board at its 914th meeting on May 31, 1979 to be the national center for fisheries.

At its 976th meeting on April 23, 1985, the Board of Regents formally established UP Diliman as a constituent university, more than a decade after the reorganization. Diliman being 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.

Today, the University of the Philippines is composed of seven constituent universities: UP Diliman, UP Los Baños, UP Manila, UP Visayas, UP Open University (for distance education), UP Mindanao .and the recently established UP Baguio. Together, these universities have an aggregate of 48 colleges. From an initial enrollment of 50 in 1909, the total count of students had grown to 55,301 by 2003.

source: University of the Philippines, Mindanao