University of San Carlos

The University of San Carlos (USC; Filipino: Pamantasan ng San Carlos; Cebuano: Unibersidad sa San Carlos), colloquially referred to as San Carlos or Sangkarlos, is a private, Catholic, and research university administered by the Philippine Southern Province of the Society of the Divine Word in Cebu City, Philippines since 1935. It traces its origins to the Seminario-Colegio de San Carlos, the seminary of the then Diocese of Cebu, which opened in 1783 in the building which previously functioned as the Jesuit Colegio de San Ildefonso from 1595 to 1768. The Colegio separated from the seminary in 1924, and later became a university on July 1, 1948.

USC has 2 campuses with combined land area of 88 hectares or 217 acres (Talamban campus has 78 hectares). The Commission on Higher Education has recognized 8 of its programs as Centers of Excellence and 12 of its programs as Centers of Development as of March, 2016.

At present, USC has a population of 25,000+ students. 250+ of which are foreign students enrolled in its undergraduate and graduate programs. It offers academic programs at the undergraduate and graduate level.

San Carlos's notable alumni include 1 Philippine president, senators and congressmen, presidential cabinet members, military officials, legal personages, journalists, awards laureates, celebrities, and businessmen.

History

Early history

The current claim of the Administration of the University of San Carlos is that the institution was originally founded as the Colegio de San Ildefonso, a grammar school attached to the Jesuit residence in Cebu. It was established by Spanish Jesuit missionaries Antonio Sedeño, Pedro Chirino and Antonio Pereira in 1595. The Colegio de San Ildefonso was closed in 1769 with the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain and the Spanish dominions.

Prompted by the decree of the Council of Trent that every diocese must have a seminary for the formation and training of priests, Bishop Mateo Joaquin Rubio de Arevalo, in a letter dated October 25, 1777, petitioned Charles III of Spain for the legal bequest of the buildings of the old Colegio de San Ildefonso. This was granted by a royal decree dated October 29, 1779, which was subsequently confirmed by the Real Audiencia de Manila on the October 16, 1782. On August 23, 1783, the Spanish government officially turned over the properties that it had confiscated and hitherto owned, marking the birth of the Cebu Seminary, named the Real Seminario de San Carlos after the counter-reformation saint, St. Charles Borromeo.

Despite the founding of the seminary in 1783, there were no permanent faculty members during the first few years of its operation, as hardly anyone was trained for seminary administration and theological teaching. In 1825, the Seminary's first rector, Fr. José Morales del Rosario, was appointed by the Dominican Bishop Francisco Genoves, and was followed by a series of secular rectors until 1867. Bishop Genoves was succeeded by Bishop Romualdo Jimeno, another Dominican, whose episcopate saw the help of his confreres from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, which drastically improved the Seminary's quality of education.

The royal decree of Isabela II of Spain (1830-1904) dated October 19, 1852 mandated the establishment of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians) in the Philippine Islands “so that they should take charge of the teaching and administration of the Conciliar Seminaries.” With this, Bishop Jimeno invited the Vincentian Fathers to take over the Seminary in 1863. In 1867, the Seminary was formally turned over to Fr. José Casarramona, CM., who became rector. On May 15, 1867, in response to the local elite's petition to allow their sons to study, the Seminary allowed laymen to study as externs (colegiales), by decree of Bishop Jimeno: "...in order that they may be duly instructed in science and virtue.”

Campuses

USC consists of two campuses in different areas of Metro Cebu, with a combined land area of 88 hectares.

Downtown Campus

USC's Downtown Campus (DC), colloquially referred to as the Main Campus, is located in a city block enclosed by P. del Rosario Street, Pelaez Street, Sanciangko Street, and Junquera Street. This campus primarily holds the School of Business and Economics and the School of Law and Governance. The buildings of the Downtown Campus are among the oldest structures in the university.Fr. Arthur Dingman Building, which is perhaps USC's most recognizable facade. It was formerly known as the Administration Building. Designed by Paolo Beltran in the beaux-arts style, the building is USC's oldest standing edifice, being built from 1947 to 1951. This building replaced an older college building, which was destroyed during the September 12, 1944 pre-liberation bombings of Cebu. It is listed as an Important Cultural Property. Connected to the building is an annex which houses the campus chapel and the library. A part of the annex is the oldest part of the building, surviving the 1944 bombings.

Fr. Joseph Watzlawik Building, also known as the Old Science Building. Located along Pelaez Street, the building used to house the pharmacy department, among others. Currently, it houses the Carolinian Inn and the Carolinian Cafe, as well as other lecture halls used by the School of Business and Economics. The building is connected to the Arthur Dingman Building by a structure called the transitorium.

Abp. Gabriel Reyes Building. Completed in 1958, this academic building was built to house the commerce department. The building contains the Fr. Theodore Buttenbruch AV Hall. The building is named after Gabriel Martelino Reyes, who served as Archbishop of Cebu from 1934 to 1949, and then served as the first Filipino Archbishop of Manila.

Fr. Ernest Hoerdemann Building, formerly known as the Law and Graduate Business Building, which is located near the corner of Pelaez Street and Sanciangko Street. Completed in 2009, it is the newest building in the Downtown Campus. The building houses the College of Law and the Department of Political Science.

Fr. Anselmo Bustos Sports Complex, also referred to as the DC Gym. It is a large covered gymnasium. It is used for multiple university-wide occasions, notably the opening and closing ceremonies of the annual University Days.

St. Raphael House. It houses the St. Raphael Community of the Society of Divine Word Philippine Southern Province. The building was completed in 1961.

Administration and organization

The University of San Carlos is governed by a Board of Trustees, consisting of ten members. The Board elects the University President, who as the chief executive officer, appoints the Vice Presidents, Chaplain, Deans, Registrar, Principals, and other officers. The President is assisted by three vice presidents: one for Academic Affairs, one for Administration, and one for Finance. These officers constitute the President's Cabinet. Each university president serves three year terms, and is eligible for reappointment.

The University is divided into seven collegiate schools, each headed by a dean. Each school is divided into multiple academic departments devoted to a specific discipline, each headed by a department chair. USC's seven collegiate schools are as follows:

• School of Arts and Sciences (SAS)
• School of Law and Governance (SLG)
• School of Business and Economics (SBE)
• School of Education (SEd)
• School of Engineering (SOE)
• School of Healthcare Professions (SHCP)
• School of Architecture, Fine Arts, and Design (SAFAD)

The College of Law, which is organized under the School of Law & Governance, is headed by its own dean.

Academics

Degree programs

The University of San Carlos offers education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, through its various academic units. As of 2024, the university offers 45 undergraduate degree programs, along with 34 graduate programs, 3 of which are professional degree programs.

University of San Carlos Program Offerings per School (2026-2027):

Reputation and rankings

The University of San Carlos (USC) has received significant recognition in various university rankings. The QS Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings (WUR) for 2024 and 2025 placed USC within the 1,201-1,400 range and at 1,401, respectively. For the 2025 edition, only five universities from the Philippines are included in these rankings. In the QS Asia University Rankings, USC falls within the 551-600 range and ranks 88th in the QS Asia South-Eastern Asia University Rankings. QS also ranked USC as the 5th best university in the Philippines for 2024. USC had also made its debut in the QS Sustainability Rankings 2026, placing in the 1401–1500 global bracket and among the eight Philippine universities that entered the sustainability ranking this year.

USC ranked in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2024 and in 2025. It obtained an overall rank of 1501+ with an overall score of 41.3. The University ranked highest (401–600) in three SDGs, namely SDG 6, SDG 8, and SDG 14. Based on scores, the University performed well in SDG 8, SDG 5, and SDG 7 in 2024. In 2025, USC improved to the 1001–1500 bracket with an overall score of 52.2, reporting on nine SDGs and performing strongest in SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) where it ranked 301–400 globally.

Additionally, as of 2024, EduRank placed USC 7th in its list of the 100 best universities in the Philippines. The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities ranks USC 8th nationwide. The SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) for research and innovation ranked USC 8th among universities in the Philippines. The Institute for Research, Innovation, and Scholarship (IRIS) ranked USC 8th in science, 9th in engineering, and 7th in health for research productivity during the 2021-2022 period. The University of San Carlos was ranked 129th on AppliedHE’s “All Asia Private University Ranking 2026”.

Research and Extension

The university has drawn in external grants amounting to about PHP350M (US$7M) from 2018 to 2022. Internal research grants of about PHP45M (US$754k) have also been awarded from the University Research Trust Fund within the same time period, while an additional PHP325M (US$6M) has been earmarked for laboratory facilities development anticipating the current changes in the Philippine educational system. About 140 faculty members are actively engaged in research with 315 papers published in internationally referred journals and 46 research collaboration agreements with international and Philippine-based institutions (2018-2022).

University publications

Today's Carolinian

The official student publication of USC is Today's Carolinian (TC), which is run by its editorial board and staff composed of graduate and undergraduate students of the university. The official slogan of the publication is "Our Commitment. Your Paper." According to its website and Facebook page, the publication began as a re-established student publication of the University of San Carlos during the 80s, almost 10 years after Marcos' Martial Law seized the existence of student publications and other student institutions nationwide. It happened when the students launched their first strike against the administration to reinstate the student council and the student publication of the USC. The students were victorious in reinstating the student government. The latter eventually brought back the student publication in September 1983. After some time in the early 2000s, the publication was shut down again and, with the efforts of the university's supreme student council, re-emerged in 2012.

In 2020, Today's Carolinian published an editorial on Facebook titled “A GOVERNOR IS NOT ABOVE THE CONSTITUTION,” condemning the alleged intimidation of the Cebu Provincial Governor Gwendolyn Garcia against critics. The governor, through her personal Facebook account, invited the editor-in-chief of TC, Berns Mitra, to her office on Wednesday, March 25, 2020, to discuss the matter. For the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), this affirms the statement of TC that the governor is trying to intimidate her critics. CEGP urged the provincial government to focus on implementing mitigating measures against COVID-19 instead of focusing on criticisms.

USC Publishing House

The USC Publishing House, formerly the USC Press, has published about 500 volumes of research journals and about 110 books of academic research by the university's faculty, scholars, alumni, and partners since 1975. Its three major research journals published are: The Philippine Scientist, a journal of natural sciences; Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society, a journal of humanities, arts, culture, history and social sciences; and Devotio: Journal of Business and Economics Studies. It also publishes research journals produced by different research centers and units of USC such as the Cebuano Studies Center, Kabilin Heritage Center, Water Resources Center, Office of Population Studies, Business Resource Center, and various academic schools and departments of the university.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of the university include Sergio Osmeña Sr., fourth President and the first Vice President of the Philippines; Senators Vicente Rama, Vicente Sotto, Mariano Jesus Cuenco, Filemon Sotto, Sergio Osmeña III, John Henry Osmeña, Rene Espina, Manuel C. Briones; Napoleon G. Rama, Award-winning journalist, Floor Leader of the Constitutional Convention, Premio Zobel and Ninoy Aquino Memorial Award recipient; Congressmen Miguel Cuenco, Raul del Mar, and Pablo P. Garcia, and Glenn A. Chong; Governors Dionisio A. Jakosalem, Emilio Mario Osmeña, Osmundo G. Rama, and Hilario P. Davide III; Hilario G. Davide, Jr., Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines; Aniano A. Desierto, former Ombudsman of the Republic of the Philippines; Edgardo Delos Santos, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines; Lourdes Reynes Quisumbing, PhD, Secretary of Education, Culture and Sports; Ernesto Pernia, PhD, Secretary of Economic Development and Planning and director general of National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA); Resil Mojares, PhD, Filipino historian and critic of Philippine literature, a National Artist of the Philippines for Literature; Antonio Abad, Premio Zobel winner in 1928 and 1929, a poet, fiction author, playwright and essayist; Erlinda Kintanar Alburo, PhD, contemporary Cebuano language scholar and promoter of the language; Ramon Fernandez, PBA player; Lauro Mumar, national team head coach of India and the Philippines; John Gokongwei, Jr.; businessman, self-made billionaire, philanthropist, founder and chairman of JG Summit Holdings; Eugene Acevedo, businessman and President of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC).

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)