About

 

The University of Southern Mindanao (USM) is a premier land grant university in Southern Philippines. Formerly known as the Mindanao Institute of Technology (MIT), the USM was founded by the late Bai Hadja Fatima Matabay Plang, a dedicated Muslim educator and philanthropist. Formally starting its operations on October 1, 1954, the USM achieved its university status through P.D. 1312 on March 13, 1978.

USM is one of the four leading state universities in the country that achieved excellence in agricultural education. Today, it is one of the nine among 120 or so state-owned universities and colleges (SUCs) that earned Level IV status. In the first half of 2005, it was rated very satisfactory by the Department of Budget and Management Regional Office XII using the same instrument as that used in the level accreditation process.

USM has a total of 5, 129.97 hectares: Kabacan main campus has 1, 024 hectares; Arakan Valley campus, 4,091 hectares; and USM-Kidapawan City Campus, 14.97 hectares. Most of its land is used for agricultural projects.