De La Salle University

De La Salle University (DLSU; Filipino: Pamantasang De La Salle) is a private Catholic research university run by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools with its main campus on Taft Avenue, Malate, Manila, Philippines. It was established by the Christian Brothers in 1911 as De La Salle College (DLSC) in Nozaleda Street, Paco, Manila with Br. Blimond Pierre Eilenbecker, FSC serving as director, and is the first De La Salle school in the Philippines. The college was granted university status on February 19, 1975, and is the oldest constituent of De La Salle Philippines (DLSP), a network of 16 educational institutions, established in 2006 replacing the De La Salle University System.

The institution started as an exclusive all-boys elementary and high school. In 1920, it began offering a two-year Associate in Arts Commerce program, which was later discontinued in 1931 in favor of a Bachelor of Science in Commerce program. The patron saint of the university is St. John Baptist de La Salle, the Vatican's patron saint for those who work in education.

De La Salle University has been cited by the Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as a Center of Excellence in 14 of its programs and a Center of Development in five. The university is among 40 institutions granted autonomous status by CHED as of 2010. It is the first of only two institutions granted the highest-level accreditation (Level IV) by the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU). The university is a member of the ASEAN University Network (AUN) and International Association of Universities (IAU) as well as the local South Manila Inter-Institutional Consortium.

History

The Philippines was one of the last few Southeast Asian countries in which the De La Salle Christian Brothers established themselves. The De La Salle Christian Brothers had established several De La Salle schools in British and French Southeast Asian colonial territories a century before settling in the new American colony. Initially, the De La Salle Brothers were reluctant in establishing a school in the Philippines due to the Americans' insistence that the first school should only educate the children of the ruling Filipino elite. The Americans instructed the Christian Brothers to Americanize future Filipino leaders through their Catholic Lasallian education. The American demand ran contrary to the original spiritual teachings and charism of St. John Baptist de La Salle, the Vatican's patron saint of Christian educators whose main religious vocation was to "Teach Minds, Touch Hearts and Transform Lives" while providing tuition-free education to the poor. The De La Salle Christian Brothers eventually agreed to establish a school in Manila, conceding that the "upper-class children of the ruling elite families also needed good Catholic moral and spiritual training."

De La Salle University traces its founding roots to Manila Archbishop Jeremiah James Harty. Harty, an alumnus of a Christian Brother–Lasallian school in St. Louis, Missouri, believed that the establishment of a De La Salle school in Manila would be instrumental in preempting the spread of Protestantism in the Philippines through the arrival of the Thomasites and American Protestant church missions. His request was endorsed in 1907 by Pope Pius X. An envoy of the De La Salle Christian Brothers arrived in 1910. Together with Manila Archbishop Harty, the Christian Brothers searched for a suitable campus location. A 13,000-square-meter (140,000 sq ft) property in Nozaleda Street, Paco, Manila was purchased for this purpose.

Early history

De La Salle College was established by nine De La Salle Christian Brothers. Three, Blimond Pierre Eilenbecker, Aloysius Gonzaga McGiverin, and Augusto Correge, arrived on March 10, 1911, and the remaining six, Ptolomee Louis Duffaux, Goslin Camillus Henri, D. Joseph, Celba John Lynam, Imar William Reale, and Martin, on May 13. De La Salle College formally opened on June 16, 1911, with 125 students. By July 10, the number of students reached 175.

On February 12, 1912, the college was incorporated under the sole ownership of the college director, Br. Eilenbecker. In March 1912, four more Brothers arrived, Wilfrid, Basilian Coin, Dorotheus Joseph, and Egbert Xavier Kelly. The college was permitted to confer high school diplomas in the same year. It received a charter from the Governor-General of the Philippines, allowing the college to confer associate degrees in commerce. It started offering the degree as a two-year program in 1920. Brothers Donatian Felix, V. Andrew, Albinus Peter, Flavius Leo, Alphonsus Henry, Felix and David King were sent to the school to teach various subjects from 1917 to 1929.

Campuses

Manila

The main campus is situated on a 5.45-hectare (13.5-acre) lot at 2401 Taft Avenue, Malate, Manila. It is part of the University Belt with several other colleges and universities, including St. Scholastica's College, Manila and Philippine Women's University, which are both located nearby. Some buildings that are part of the campus are also situated at other nearby lots along Taft Avenue and at the nearby Fidel Reyes Street, formerly named Agno Street.

The buildings have a combined floor area of 136,685.98 m2 (1,471,275.6 sq ft). Six of the DLSU Manila campus buildings – Br. Andrew Gonzalez Hall, Don Enrique T. Yuchengco Hall, Enrique M. Razon Sports Center, Gokongwei Hall, Henry Sy Sr. Hall, and Velasco Hall – were funded and provided by DLSU alumni. Most of the buildings in the DLSU campus feature neoclassical design. These include:

St. La Salle Hall, the first building on the campus. A four-story building, its construction started in 1921 and was completed in 1924. The classic H-shaped LS main building was designed by Cornell University alumnus Tomás Mapúa, the first Filipino registered architect and subsequent founder of Mapúa Institute of Technology. St. La Salle Hall was one of the very few buildings that survived the near total destruction of Manila during the 1945 Battle of Manila. It has undergone retrofitting since 2011, and was completed in 2012. It is the only Philippine structure featured in 1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die: The World's Architectural Masterpieces, a book published by Quintessence Editions Ltd. in 2007. St. La Salle Hall also houses the College of Business and School of Economics.

St. Joseph Hall, a six-story building completed in 1956. It was the location of the DLSU library from 1956 to 1985. It houses the College of Science and DLSU's Discipline Office.

St. Miguel Febres Cordero Hall, a four-story building completed in 1969. Originally known as the St. Benilde Hall, it was renamed in 1989 and houses the College of Liberal Arts, academic offices, and some laboratories belonging to the College of Engineering.

Urbano J. Velasco Hall, a five-story building completed in 1981. It houses the College of Engineering.

Don Enrique T. Yuchengco Hall, a nine-story building completed in 2002. The building has 20 classrooms, six conference rooms, DLSU's administrative offices and the Teresa G. Yuchengco Auditorium.

John Gokongwei Sr. Hall, a four-story building completed in the 1990s. Originally named the INTELLECT (Information Technology Lecture) Building, the building houses the College of Computer Studies, the university's Information Technology Services (ITS) facilities, National Service Training Program and Formations Office, and 24-hour study hall. The ground floor of the building underwent renovation from 2019 to 2021, which included additional classrooms and study spaces.

Organization

Administration

As a non-stock incorporated entity, DLSU is governed by an independent board of trustees. The DLSU Board of Trustees, currently chaired by Dr. Fortunato T. de la Peña, selects the DLSU president. As resolved by the board of trustees in June 2010, the president of De La Salle University must be a Lasallian Brother and be a holder of a PhD. Filipino citizenship is not a must but preferred. Prior to the university's move to its present location in 1921, the president was referred to as the director. The president and the Provost are assisted by four vice chancellors. Prior to the reorganization of DLSU in 2007, the chancellor was referred to as the executive vice president. The president may concurrently be the chancellor of the university, as with former president and chancellor Br. Armin Luistro, FSC.

Since its establishment in 1911, De La Salle University has had 24 presidents (10 Filipinos, six Americans, six Irishmen, and two Frenchmen); Br. Bernard S. Oca, FSC is serving as the current president. His term started on August 1, 2021. All of them, except Carmelita Quebengco, were male. Two of them had been appointed as secretaries of the Philippine Department of Education, including Br. Andrew Gonzalez, FSC (1998–2001) and Br. Armin Luistro, FSC (2010–2016). Meanwhile, Br. Rolando Ramos Dizon, FSC, also a former DLSU, University of St. La Salle and La Salle Green Hills president, had served as the chairman of Philippine Commission on Higher Education from 2003 to 2004. Brother Armin Luistro, FSC became the first Superior-General of the De La Salle Brothers worldwide on May 18, 2022.

Affiliations

De La Salle University is the oldest member of De La Salle Philippines, a network of 16 Lasallian institutions established in 2006. DLSP is the successor of the De La Salle University System, a similar organization. De La Salle Philippines is a member of an international, worldwide network of Lasallian educational institutions. Presently, the Lasallian order consists of over 3,000 Christian Brothers, who together with 90,000 teachers and Lay associates help run and manage over 1,100 educational institutions established globally in 80 countries with over a million students worldwide.

De La Salle University is also a member of several notable international university associations such as the ASEAN University Network, Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia, Association of Southeast and East Asian Catholic Colleges and Universities, Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning, International Association of Lasallian Universities, International Association of Universities, International Federation of Catholic Universities, United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia and University Cooperation for Internationalisation. The university is also a member of local organizations, including the Philippine Association for Technological Education and the South Manila Inter-Institutional Consortium.

Academics

De La Salle University offers over a hundred undergraduate and graduate degree programs through its seven colleges and one school. It also offers a degree in mechatronics and robotics, one of the first to offer such in the Philippines. As of 2022, DLSU operates 15 research centers and institutes.

DLSU received 23,495 undergraduate freshman applications in 2010, and 3,428 of them were admitted. In the same year, it had 11,413 undergraduate and 3,366 graduate students, making a total of 14,779, with 704 of these being non-Filipino. Fifty-three percent of the undergraduate students were male while 59 of the graduate students were female. Eighty-five percent of its students come from Metro Manila while almost all reside near the university. In 2011, it had an average of 990 faculty members for the academic year. Sixty-nine percent of them held doctorate degrees, while 28 had master's degrees. In Academic Year 2021–22, the university had 1,500 faculty members. It also received 19,488 undergraduate freshman applications and 7,397 were enrolled. DLSU also had 18,821 undergraduate and 4,289 graduate students for a total student population of 23,110.

The College of Liberal Arts and the College of Business, both established in 1918 and 1920 respectively, are the oldest degree-granting units of the university. The College of Liberal Arts was originally established as the College of Arts and Sciences. In 1982, the departments of Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics separated from the Liberal Arts department to formally establish the College of Science as a distinct unit in the university. The College of Business was originally known as the College of Commerce, and later reorganized as the College of Business and Economics until 2010. In 2011, the College of Business was inaugurated as the present-day Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business.

The Br. Andrew Gonzalez College of Education dates back to 1936 when De La Salle College was authorized to confer the degree of Master of Science in education. It was in 1959 when the college started to offer undergraduate degrees in education. The Gokongwei College of Engineering was established in 1947 after World War II, and the College of Computer Studies was created in 1981, the same year the university shifted to a trimestral academic calendar.

The College of Law and the School of Economics, both established in 2010, are the newest units of the university. The College of Law was established by Founding Dean Chel Diokno. It offers a Juris Doctor degree program with focus on environmental and human rights law. On February 26, 2022, it was renamed as the Tañada-Diokno College of Law. The School of Economics is the product of the reorganization of the now-defunct College of Business and Economics to create two separate entities in the university. The School of Economics formally separated from the College of Business in 2010.

Research

The De La Salle University Science Foundation serves as DLSU's repository of research funding, providing research grants to faculty and scholarship grants to students. Registered in April 1998, its total assets were worth over ₱8.5 billion (US$197 million) in 2008. 120 (20 percent) of DLSU faculty had been involved in 80 research projects between March 2008 and February 2009. 39 (12 percent) of its faculty had their research published in ISI-listed journals in 2008.

Since 2000, DLSU has been the Commission on Higher Education Zonal Research Center for the 59 colleges and universities located in Las Piñas, Makati, Manila, Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Pasay, Pasig, Pateros, Taguig and San Juan. Its functions include evaluation of research proposals for recommendation for CHED funding and monitoring of CHED-funded researches, among others.

The College of Computer Studies Center for Empathic Human-Computer Interactions specializes in affective computing, a study that seeks to create machines capable of reacting to human emotions. The center is funded by the Philippine Department of Science and Technology. Emotion recognition (including laughter recognition), behavior prediction and the influence of music to emotion are among the center's research, many of which are in collaboration with Osaka University. The center, also in collaboration with Osaka, is the first one that constructed an empathic computing space in the Philippines.

The Center for Micro-Hydro Technology for Rural Electrification of the College of Engineering, established in 2002 through Japan International Cooperation Agency funds, is engaged in designing micro hydro generators. The center, in coordination with the Philippine Department of Energy, has been involved in the electrification of remote areas using micro hydro installations.

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)