University of the East

UE Manila facade along Recto Avenue

Panfilo O. Domingo Center for IT Hall, Manila

UE Caloocan Campus

Dr. Lucio C. Tan Building, UE Caloocan

UERM Medical Center

The history of the University of the East starts in September 1946, in a rented room on Dasmariñas St., Manila, where 110 students enrolled in Certified Public Accountant (CPA) review classes. The group of business teachers led by Dr. Francisco T. Dalupan, Sr. that started the sessions made it their objective to help the country, which was still reeling from the war. Of the 110 students, four made it to top spots in the 1947 CPA board Examinations.[1]

On September 11, 1946, five people—namely Dr. Francisco T. Dalupan Sr., Dr. Hermengildo B. Reyes, José L. Torres, Enid Mapa and Santiago de la Cruz—established the Philippine College of Commerce and Business Administration (PCCBA) along R. Papa St. in Sampaloc, Manila. The PCCBA admitted 350 students in the summer of 1947. The following year, more students enrolled and more academic units were organized, and the PCCBA moved to what is now UE's main campus on 2219 Claro M. Recto Avenue.

PCCBA alumni performed successfully in the government's accountancy examinations. Because of this success, the government granted the PCCBA permission to establish other colleges, leading to the establishment of the Colleges of Liberal Arts, Business Administration, Dentistry, and the Graduate School of Business Administration.[1]

The PCCBA was granted university status on July 4, 1951, and was renamed the University of the East. Dalupan became UE's first president and chairman of its Board of Trustees. The first members of the Board were Dr. Hermenegildo Balbino Reyes, a businessman, scholar, and former Vice President of the University of the Philippines; Santiago F. de la Cruz, a CPA and business executive who later succeeded Dalupan as UE president; José L. Torres, a soldier, businessman, and accountant; and Jaime Hernández, former Secretary of Finance.

The succeeding years saw the opening of the colleges of Law, Medicine, and Engineering, as well as the Graduate School of Education. The Graduate School later merged with the Graduate School of Business Administration.

In June 1954, UE opened a new campus, then known as UE Tech, on a 4.86-hectare lot along Samson Road in Caloocan. UE Caloocan, which is now academically autonomous, is headed by a chancellor. The new Tan Yan Kee Academic Building houses the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, and Fine Arts, whereas the College of Engineering has its own building. The UE Caloocan grounds have been used for ROTC and CAT instruction since 1986.

In 1955, the UE purchased a one-hectare lot along Aurora Boulevard in Quezon City, where it established the College of Medicine. On May 17, 1957, the college was converted into a Foundation and named the UE Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center (UERMMMC).

In 1962 the University acquired a 5,850-square meter lot across UERMMMC. This became the Research Center for Sciences, Humanities and Culture, which is home to two buildings. One housed the School of Music and Arts and the Ballet School while the other housed the College of Dentistry and research laboratories. The School of Music and Arts, now the College of Fine Arts, moved to the Caloocan campus in 1981. On the mid 1960s Dalupan commissioned the National Artist Guillermo Tolentino to create the symbol of every UEian, the Lualhati from the figure of CBA student Ophelia Salas. The College of Dentistry moved to the Recto (Manila) campus in school year 1988–1989.

In 1967, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, father of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, decided to teach part-time in the College of Business Administration and branded UE as the "People's University".[1]

Together with the expansion came rapid growth in enrollment. From the original 110 students in 1946, the student population steadily grew each year until 1960, when UE became the first Philippine university have an enrollment of over 60,000. The highest enrollment record was achieved during the first semester of school year 1975–1976, with 67,443 students registered. Today, the body of UE alumni is over 250,000 strong.

The economic crisis and recession that hit the Philippines in the 1980s did not spare UE. The devaluation of the peso, rising inflation, the high cost of wages, coupled with faculty, personnel and student strikes affected UE. Enrollment declined. This period intensified into a crisis that almost led to the school's being sold to a foreign religious group. Financial trouble and academic decline continued to burden UE throughout the 1980s. For a brief period in 1984, a controlling interest in the university was held by an entity of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation movement. Students boycotted classes and held protests against the takeover, and in short time control was returned to stakeholders.[5][6]

Dr. Isidro D. Cariño, who became UE president in 1984, began applying measures that included personnel reduction, cost-cutting measures, and renting out school premises and facilities on short- and long-term leases. UE began offering a ladderized curriculum, a special course for executives, programs from the Institute for Computer Studies and Systems, and scholarships for accounting and engineering students. The lease of facilities enabled UE to hold back tuition fee increases in 1986–1987 and 1987–1988.

When Cariño was appointed Secretary of Education of the Philippines in 1990, Panfilo O. Domingo, former President of Philippine National Bank, took over as Chairman of the Board of Trustees and became Chief Executive Officer and Acting President of the University.

Domingo immediately worked to cure the financial ills of the University by retiring its short-term debts and instituting fiscal and operational reforms. Within five years, the University's loans were substantially reduced and the long-accumulated operating deficit was eliminated from the books. At the same time, Domingo began a massive rehabilitation of UE's infrastructure and academics.

Lucio C. Tan heavily invested in education, buying the university in 1990. In 1992, former Treasurer of the Philippines Rosalina S. Cajucom became UE President. After she retired in mid-1995, Domingo reassumed the presidency until the appointment of Dr. Josefina R. Cortes to the position in 1997. She was succeeded by Mr. Baltazar N. Endriga following her 2003 retirement.

Recently the University was labeled as "One of the Most Wired Universities in the Country"[7] by Computerworld and Enterprise Magazine. Featured in the 2006 Computerworld Premier 100 of Computer World Magazine, the university ranked 15 among the top 100 corporations and companies in the use of Information Technology and is the only educational institution on the list.

The University migrated from ATM to Gigabit Ethernet at its Manila campus with an Ethernet networking solution from Nortel Networks.[8] The upgrade will significantly improve speed and performance of student and faculty access to online learning resources and academic records. The upgrade will also support the University's plan for a unified communications network ultimately linking the Manila facility with campuses in Caloocan and Quezon City.

On October 6, 2009, the Commission on Higher Education granted the Autonomous Status to the UE-Manila campus.[3]

On September 25, 2012 the University inaugurated the Dr. Lucio C. Tan Building, an eight-story building and the new home of UE Caloocan's Elementary and High School Department (EHSD). The edifice, named after UE's Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, features modern classrooms and laboratories, a 500-seater multipurpose hall, and a library with multi-media facilities.

By the second semester of SY 2014–2015, College of Dentistry moved to the new seven-storey building extension campus at the former Ever Gotesco Mall along Recto avenue near the UE Manila campus. and the Old Dentistry Building is now used mostly by Grades 11 and 12 students.

POD-CIT building Square, Manila

Tan Yan Kee Garden

Santiago dela Cruz building

UE Manila Annex, Dr. Lucio C. Tan Building

College of Dentistry

College of Education

The UE Manila Campus (main campus) consists of twelve buildings, located on the heart of University Belt area, Sampaloc, Manila. The campus faces Claro M. Recto Avenue, near Mendiola Street and Legarda station. All of the campuses are fully integrated with the Smart ID System. One of the beautification project of the university is the construction of the Tan Yan Kee Garden.

On October 6, 2009, the Commission on Higher Education has granted the Autonomous status to the University of the East-Manila Campus.[3] On September 12, 2012, the University inaugurated the Dr. Lucio C. Tan Building. It is an eight-story building and the new home of UE Caloocan's Elementary and High School Department (EHSD). The edifice was named after UE's Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer.

In 2013 UE Manila Annex was up at the former Ever Gotesco Mall along Recto avenue near the UE Manila. A seven-story Dr. Lucio C. Tan Building housed the brightest UE Dentistry and was open November 2014.

On April 2, 2016 a fire broke out in the second floor of the University of the East-College of Arts and Science Building, the Engineering Building together with the University Chapel caught fire. Leaving the newly renovated CAS building in ruins. The groundbreaking ceremony on May 22, 2017 for the new Lualhati Building would be erected at the footprint of these buildings.

University of the East is an accredited member of various national and international organizations:

• Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU)
• Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (PACUCOA)
• Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning (ASAIHL)
• International Association of Universities (IAU)
• Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP)
• Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU)
• University Belt
• University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP)

Former Vice President Noli de Castro

The University of the East has produced thousands of graduates from its over 70 years of existence. Prominents are Manuel "Kabayan" L. De Castro, former Vice President of the Philippines, former Senator and broadcaster. Other senators are Alfredo S. Lim and Robert "Sonny" Jaworski.

The university produced Justices from the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Court of Appeals and other legal luminaries, namely Chief Justice Lucas P. Bersamin, Justice Dante O. Tinga, Justice Normandie B. Pizzaro, Justice Japar B. Dimaampao, Justice Franchito N. Diamante and Arturo G. Tayag. Also UE has produced many government officials, such as members of the Congress of the Philippines, governors and mayors.[10] Some famous legal counsels include Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, chief of the Public Attorney's Office Persida Rueda-Acosta.

In the field of science, Filipino archaeologist and former director of the Anthropology Division of National Museum of the Philippines Alfredo E. Evangelista finished his bachelor of arts degree in History from the university. Famous poets of the second modernist movement in Filipino poetry include National Artist Virgilio S. Almario, Teo Antonio and Rogelio Mangahas.[11]

Other distinguished alumni are businessmen Andrew Tan and Rizalino S. Navarro; broadcasters Peter Musñgi, Quinito Henson, Erwin Tulfo, Ramon Tulfo and Ricky Lo; sports icons Baby Dalupan, Robert Jaworski, Jerry Codiñera, Allan Caidic, James Yap and Paul Lee.

• University of the East
• University of the East – Caloocan Campus
• University of the East – Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center
• University of the East – High School – Manila
• UERMMMC Hospital
• University of East Mountaineers – UEM