University of the Visayas

The University of the Visayas is an educational institution located at Cebu City, Philippines. It was the first school in the province of Cebu to gain university status.Campuses and locationThe University of the Visayas is an eight-campus, province-wide system of higher education and lower level laboratory schools.There are two campuses in Cebu City: the main campus occupying almost one city block bounded by Colon, D. Jakosalem and Sanciangko Streets and a laboratory high school in Pardo. The main campus has six multi-storey buildings including a gymnasium.The Gullas Medical Center is located at Banilad, Mandaue City. It houses the Vicente Gullas Memorial Hospital, the Gullas College of Medicine, the UV College of Nursing, the UV College of Pharmacy, the Gullas College of Dentistry, VIP Gullas College of Music, the Tan Kim Ching Cancer Center and the up-coming Cosmetic Surgery Center including other health-related courses. Vicente Gullas Memorial Hospital is a 100-bed tertiary care hospital accredited by PhilHealth.The campus in Punta Engano, Lapulapu City, has a port for the Maritime College's practical training at sea.Other campuses are in the cities of Mandaue, Toledo and in the towns of Dalaguete, Minglanilla and Compostela in the province of Cebu.HistoryThe University of the Visayas was founded by the late Don Vicente A. Gullas in 1919 as the Visayan Institute (V.I.) in Cebu City. The second World War razed to the ground the physical facilities of the V.I. at its original site. Undaunted by adversities, Don Vicente reopened classes in Argao, Cebu in 1946. A year later the V.I. moved back to its present site in Colon Street, Cebu City.As early as its founding, the V.I. had pioneered in education innovations to provide equal education opportunities for those who have the capability and the desire for improving themselves. It was the first to conduct night school class for working students in Cebu City in the 1940s. The “study now pay later plan” had been a practice at the V.I. long before it was adopted by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) in the 1980s.