University of Northern Philippines

The University of Northern Philippines is a university in Barangay Tamag, in the City of Vigan in the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. It is the first and oldest state university in Northern Luzon which offers low tuition fee, tracing its roots to 1906, which is older than the University of the Philippines by two years. It is the only state university in the province aimed for less-fortunate people and one of three state-owned educational institutions of higher learning operating in Ilocos Sur .HistoryThe university began as the Vigan High School (present-day Ilocos Sur National High School) in 1906. Its shop department was converted into a separate intermediate level school, named the Vigan Trade School in 1910. It opened its high school in 1927 and produced its first graduates in 1931, when it evolved as the Ilocos Sur Trade School. They were both in Vigan town. Two of the buildings still exist: one being used as a warehouse for a construction supply firm, the other is the location of the Vigan City Trade Center.President Manuel Luis Quezon converted the Ilocos Sur Trade School in 1941 through the help of Assemblyman Benito T. Soliven and Governor Pedro Singson Reyes. However, World War II halted its implementation.