The University of the Philippines (UP) is the country’s national university. This premier institution of higher learning was established in 1908 and is now a university system composed of eight constituent universities located in 17 campuses all over the archipelago.
UP Diliman offers the most number of undergraduate and graduate degree programs and is composed of almost 50 percent of the entire UP System student population.
UP Los Baños in Laguna—roughly 65 kilometers south of Manila—is the country’s recognized leader in agriculture, forestry, and environmental management. As a pioneer in forest conservation, UP Los Baños has stewardship over the 4,244-hectare Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve.
UP Manila is the leading academic institution in the health sciences. It is home to the National Institutes of Health and the UP Philippine General Hospital, the country’s largest government tertiary hospital.
UP Visayas, with its three campuses in Iloilo City, Iloilo; Miag-ao, Iloilo; and Tacloban, Leyte, is the acknowledged authority in marine science education and research, fisheries, and aquaculture in the country. Apart from its focus on the sciences, this constituent university also prioritizes the preservation and enrichment of Visayan cultural heritage.
UP Open University is the pioneer institution in distance education and open learning in the Philippines. While its base of operations is in Los Baños, Laguna, it is basically a virtual university—providing quality education to students in the country and abroad who are not able to attend conventional colleges and universities due to personal or professional constraints.
UP Mindanao is the only UP constituent university in Mindanao with the primary mandate to provide equitable access to quality UP education to Mindanaoans. It offers academic programs in the fields of the humanities, architecture, mathematics, food, economics, social, natural, and computing sciences.
UP Baguio attained its status as constituent university in 2002. It is a leading institution in the areas of science and mathematics, social sciences, and the humanities in Northern Philippines.
UP Cebu, formerly one of the UP Visayas campuses, became an autonomous college under the UP Office of the President in September 2010.