The University of the Philippines (UP) is the country’s national university. This premier institution of higher learning was established in 1908 and is now a university system composed of eight constituent universities and one autonomous college spread throughout 17 campuses in the archipelago.

In 2012, the Commission on Higher Education declared 24 units of the university as Centers of Excellence; while 6 units have been declared as Centers of Development.

The University of the Philippines System publishes regular updates on the university via Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and LinkedIn. Videos about the university are also available on Youtube, while publications from the Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs are also published on Issuu. Photos on some of the historic moments of the university are also posted on Instagram.

The University of the Philippines was founded on June 18, 1908 through Act No. 1870 of the Philippine Assembly. The UP was the result of the Secretary of Public Instruction, W. Morgan Schuster’s recommendation to the Philippine Commission, the upper house of the Philippine Assembly. Act 1870 authorized the Governor General to establish the University of the Philippines in the “city of Manila, or at any point he may deem most convenient.” The UP was to give “advanced instruction in literature, philosophy, the sciences and arts, and to give professional and technical training” to every qualified student regardless of “age, sex, nationality, religious belief and political affiliation.”