The University of Santo Tomas is a private Catholic research university located in Manila, Philippines. Established on the 28th of April 1611 by Spanish friar Miguel de Benavides, Archbishop of Manila It has the oldest existing school charters in both the Philippines as well as in Asia and is one of the largest Catholic universities with the most students in one campus. It is the principal site of the University of Santo Tomas System which is administered through the Order of Preachers.
UST received an honorary title "Royal" by King Charles III of Spain in 1785. Pope Leo XIII made UST the first "Pontifical" university in 1902. Pope Pius XII bestowed upon UST the title "The Catholic University of the Philippines" in 1947. UST is home to the very first and most prestigious medical, engineering, law and pharmacy faculties in the nation.
It is also the biggest institution in Manila and houses 22 degree-granting institutions and a parish chapel, and a hospital for teaching. In 2011 4 of four university buildings were designated National Cultural Treasures by the National Museum.
The school offers courses in more than 100 specializations. It has 26 programs that are recognized as such by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as Centers of Excellence and Centers of Development that rank 2nd in the nation and the first among private educational institutions. It is granted institution's accreditation from CHED. CHED via it's Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP). The school has the largest amount of Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities' Commission on Accreditation (PACUCOA)-accredited programs in the nation with 48.
Education
Although it is true that the University of Santo Tomas holds the distinction of being Asia's longest current university Its age is correlated with its leading position within Philippine education. It is not just the home of many firsts in various areas of education, but it also has faculty and administrators members who hold high-ranking posts within the Philippines and other institutions for policy making (e.g. Commission on Higher Education) and professional associations that influence policy to improve the lives of society as a whole.
Research
To become a globally recognized as a leader in innovative and groundbreaking research in the humanities and arts and social sciences, education and management of business as well as health and related sciences, technology and science and the sacred sciences
Infrastructure, Campus & Courses
The University of Santo Tomas offers an MBBS program that is recognized from both the NMC as well as WHO. The school also provides MD at postgraduate levels. In order to make education accessible for all students The University of Santo Tomas teaches the course in English. This campus is part of University of Santo Tomas is located in the city of Manila, Philippines. It is located close to parks, shopping malls and eateries. Its main Building at UST is designated National Cultural Treasures by the National Museum of the Philippines. The facilities for infrastructure include an auditorium, library cafeterias, research center labs, and more.
Accomplishments & Alumni
The University of Santo Tomas has been selected to be one of the institutions that are members that are part of the Philippine Higher Education Research Network (PHERNET). It was selected as a member of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to house the Zonal Research Center (ZRC) for the National Capital Region in April 2010, for a time period of one year. UST research projects are funded from various other external organizations, both international and local like: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Global Development Network (GDN), International Federation of Catholic Universities Center for Coordination of Research (IFCU-CCR) and other organizations. There are 18 departments that make up the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery.
Ranking
The university is among the biggest Roman Catholic universities. UST is among the Philippines the top five universities, and is consistently placed as one of the best 1000 schools across the world.