University of the Philippines Visayas

UPV was created by merging three UP colleges: UP Cebu founded in 1918, UP Iloilo founded in 1947, and UP Tacloban founded in 1973. When the Miagao campus was built, many of Iloilo City's programs were moved there. To this day, faculty, staff and students regularly move between the Iloilo and Miagao campuses.

It was during the term of UP President Onofre D. Corpuz in 1975 when an interdisciplinary Team within the University conceived of an autonomous unit which would become the country's premier institution for fisheries and marine science education and research. This idea was fleshed out in a proposal entitled "Education Development Plan for the University of the Philippines in the Visayas" a six-volume report by an interdisciplinary team. The new university would evolve from the UP College of Iloilo and the College of Fisheries in Diliman which would transfer to its new site in the Visayas. Funding was to come partly from a government loan to be negotiated with the World Bank for the development of fisheries education.

On September 21, 1977, President Ferdinand E. Marcos issued Presidential Decree 1200, known as the Philippine Five-Year Development Plan (1978-1982), which provides, among others, that Region VI would be the site of the University of the Philippines in the Visayas (UPV) with emphasis on fisheries and marine sciences. A second UPV Project Development Team was then organized in December 1977 to review and update the plans for UPV. The new UPV development plan was approved by the UP Board of Regents (BOR) on May 28, 1978. The fisheries educational loan was then re-negotiated with the World Bank inasmuch as its appraisal team had earlier favorably endorsed the development plan.

On May 31, 1979, the Board of Regents approved the establishment of the University of the Philippines in the Visayas as an autonomous unit of the University of the Philippines System with its main campus in Miagao, Iloilo. It would start with two colleges, the UP College Iloilo as its College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Fisheries as its flagship college.

Through the Sixth Educational Loan of the Philippine Government approved by the World Bank in January 1980, the development of UPV's flagship college was made possible.

On February 29, 1980, the groundbreaking of the UPV site in Miagao was held, an event marking the beginning of UPV's bid to develop itself into the lead educational institution in Region VI, and especially as an outstanding institution of higher learning in fisheries and marine and related sciences. On June 26, 1980, Executive Order No. 628 of President Ferdinand E. Marcos operationalized UPV, and Dr. Dionisia A. Rola became the first Chancellor.

The development of the site and construction of facilities began in September 1981 and was made possible through the Sixth Educational Loan. This loan of about $17.63 Million was used for site acquisition, construction of buildings, procurement of equipment, and the transfer of the College of Fisheries personnel and other property from Diliman to Miagao.

Originally, UPV consisted of two colleges - the College of Fisheries (CF) and the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), formerly UP College Iloilo. Now it has five colleges and a school in four campuses with the establishment of the College of Management (CM) in 1981 and the School of Technology (SoTech) in 1984, and the integration of UP Cebu College (UPCC) and UP Tacloban College (UPTC) into UPV in 1986.

On April 30, 1987, the Board of Regents approved the reorganization of the College of Fisheries (now the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences or CFOS) and the establishment of four institutes, namely, the Institute of Aquaculture (IA), the Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanology (IMFO), Institute of Fish Processing Technology (IFPT), and the Institute of Fisheries Policy and Development Studies (IFPDS). The Brackishwater Aquaculture Center (BAC) facilities in Leganes, Iloilo became the Brackishwater Aquaculture Research Station of IA.

In May 1988, the College of Fisheries transferred to the new site in Miagao under the leadership of Chancellor Rogelio O. Juliano and Dean Efren Ed. C. Flores. The Diliman-based programs of the College of Fisheries were then relocated to its present site together with most of its faculty and staff.

In January 1990, the School of Technology transferred to the Miagao Campus. In June of the same year, Chancellor Francisco Nemenzo effected the transfer of the Division of Humanities and the Division of Social Sciences of the College of Arts and Sciences.

In May 1993, the transfer of the Division of Physical Sciences and Mathematics and the Division of Biological Sciences, along with the Office of the Dean, completed the transfer of the CAS.

On September 24, 2010, the UP Board of Regents elevated the status of UP Cebu as an autonomous unit, in preparation for its constituent university status after five to seven years.^[1]

Two degree-granting units remain on the Iloilo City Campus. They are the College of Management, and the CAS Division of Professional Education. Also on campus is the UP High School in Iloilo (formerly UPV High School). The High School is an experimental laboratory for innovative teaching strategies designed to provide academic training for underprivileged students in order to better prepare them for access to tertiary education in the University of the Philippines.

Some units have remained on the Iloilo City Campus, namely: (1) the Center for West Visayan Studies (CWVS) to make it more accessible to those interested in the study of Visayan Culture; (2) Office of Extension Services and Continuing Education (OESCE); (3) Sentro ng Wikang Filipino (SWF); (4) Graduate Program Office (GPO), which caters to clientele who are mostly working professionals in the city; (5) Language Program; (6) School for Distance Education, Visayas; (7) Ugnayan sa Pahinungod/Oblation Corps; and (8) UPV Women's Desk.

Part of the Miagao Campus has been reserved to accommodate regional offices and Miagao government centers with which UPV closely interfaces. At present, a Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) Branch is accommodated in the UPV Miagao Campus Library-Museum Building.