University of the Philippines

UP is composed of eight constituent universities and one autonomous college located in 17 campuses throughout the Philippines.

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 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 Los Baños in Laguna—roughly 65 kilometers south of Manila—is the country’s recognized leader in agriculture, forestry, and environmental management. Because of its location at the foot of Mt. Makiling and its fields of expertise, it is host to two international research institutions: the International Rice Research Institute and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture.

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. Its research endeavors are supported by the following facilities: Brackishwater Aquaculture Center, Freshwater Aquaculture Station, Batan Mariculture Station, and Marine Biological Station.

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 constituent university created by law, in response to the clamor of the people of Southern Philippines to have equitable access to a UP education. Architecture, biotechnology, and agribusiness are UP Mindanao’s strongest programs.

UP Baguio is the youngest constituent university in the UP System, only attaining its status in 2002. It is a leading institution in the areas of science and mathematics, social sciences, and the humanities in Northern Philippines. Through its research arm, the Cordillera Studies Center, UP Baguio contributes to higher education by focusing on the preservation of the cultural traditions of the Cordilleras, Northern Luzon, and Cagayan Valley.

UP Cebu, formerly one of the UP Visayas campuses, became an autonomous college under the UP Office of the President in September 2010. Autonomy was granted to better serve the needs of its region—a region that is aggressively asserting itself as an area for direct and foreign investments. This is why its focus is on the strengthening of its information technology and business programs. In 2016, UP Cebu was declared a constituent university of the UP System.