University of Asia and the Pacific

The University of Asia and the Pacific is situated in Ortigas Center in the Philippines, specifically in Pearl Drive, Bgy. Ugong Norte, Pasig City. The said institution strives to be a think tank and a research center for business, economics, and management. The university is divided into two large administrative faculties, the Faculty of Humanities, which contains the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), School of Economics , School of Education, Institute of Information Studies, and the Institute of Political Economy. The Faculty of Business and Communications, in turn, contains the School of Management and Institute of Communications.

The University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) traces its beginnings to the Center for Research and Communication (CRC). CRC was established more than 30 years ago as a think-tank conducting research and offering graduate courses in economics and management. It gradually expanded its education activities and, in 1995, was awarded University status by the Department of Education, Culture, and Sports. Since then, CRC became known as the University of Asia and the Pacific.

In its institutional programs and activities, UA&P puts due emphasis on the individual; the family; the community; and the world. Each unit of the University thus strives to be a center of excellence, particularly in three areas: values formation, people development, and research and communication. These are the hallmark programs of UA&P as an educational institution.

The spiritual and doctrinal formation given in the University is entrusted to Opus Dei, a Personal Prelature of the Catholic Church.

The University History

Fresh from their studies at Harvard University in 1965, Dr. Jesus P. Estanislao and Dr. Bernardo Villegas, along with some friends, started to work on what they called “a fanciful wish.” They dreamed of establishing an institution that would promote enlightened interaction between the government and the private sector. Three years later, the embodiment of this dream, the Center for Research and Communication (CRC), was established as a private voluntary organization with core operations in research and communication, together with training programs in industrial economics.

As the seed of a future university, CRC started out small and inconspicuous.

In 1970, in a private meeting in Mexico City, Msgr. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, an institution of the Catholic Church to which CRC’s spiritual and doctrinal orientation had been entrusted, encouraged Dr. Estanislao and Dr. Villegas to expand CRC’s horizons beyond the Philippines and Southeast Asia. Msgr. Escriva’s words became a challenge and an inspiration for the people at CRC to work toward transforming their think tank eventually into a university. That year, CRC opened its first graduate program, the Master of Science in Industrial Economics.

In 1982, CRC moved to its new offices in Ortigas Center, Pasig. By then, its formal and nonformal programs in economics had been well established. CRC had also gained international recognition as an economic and business think tank.

In 1987, CRC set up its Institute of Development Education, which would be the forerunner of the School of Education of the envisioned university.

In 1989, CRC opened its College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and admitted its first batch of college students. The CAS had since become one of the leading choices of high school graduates seeking quality university education. The College now offers eight fields of specialization (economics, business management, entrepreneurial management, philosophy, education, political economy, communication, and general humanities), all anchored on a strong liberal education curriculum.

In 1993, CRC applied for university status. It formally established its School of Economics and School of Education, and set up its Center for Management.

On June 26, 1995, exactly two years after CRC applied for university status, Education Secretary Ricardo Gloria signed the certificate converting CRC into the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P). The actual signing took place in a public school near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

The symbolism was not lost on the CRC community. “The setting—a public school close to our international airport—was auspicious,” recalls Dr. Estanislao. “What can be more of a Philippine institution than a public school? What better symbol can we have of our openness to the rest of the world than an international airport? Indeed, our new university is a Philippine institution with a distinctly international outlook.”

Two months later, on August 15, the UA&P was installed in a formal academic rite led by newly appointed Commission on Higher Education Chairman Angel Alcala, Secretary Gloria, and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Rosario Lopez.

On November 28, 1995, Dr. Estanislao was installed as the UA&P’s first president. The Regional Vicar of Opus Dei in the Philippines, Fr. Ramon Lopez, was conferred the honorary title of Vice Grand Chancellor of the University.

On CRC’s metamorphosis into a university, a Filipino journalist has written: “The University of Asia and the Pacific… is an attempt to chart a new course… It reflects what we sorely need today, a pursuit of excellence. If that is a spur to others, wonderful. If not, then others will be left behind. What is important is not who wins the race in Philippine education, but that there is a race at all. Last week’s announcement [of Dr. Estanislao’s installation as the first President of the UA&P] was merely the start of a new lap.”

For CRC and now the UA&P, though, the mission remains the same: the total education of tomorrow’s leaders. Hallmark Programs

In its institutional programs and activities, UA&P puts due emphasis on the individual; the family; the community; and the world. Each unit of the University thus strives to be a center of excellence, particularly in three areas: values formation, people development, and research and communication. These are the hallmarks of UA&P as an educational institution. Values Formation

UA&P is committed to the inculcation of time-tested human values and attitudes, particularly discipline, diligence, spirit of enterprise, integrity, social solidarity, and a universal outlook. The University’s academic programs always include courses in social and professional ethics. People Development

UA&P works through its social development arm, the Office of People Development, to help build model communities through integrated development programs that enable people, particularly the poor and marginalized, to help themselves. These programs include savings mobilization, values formation, general and technical education, health and nutrition, environmental quality, and cooperativism. Research and Communication

As an academic community, UA&P carries on the foundational aims and tradition of its forerunner, the Center for Research and Communication. Hence, the University continues to undertake high-level, interdisciplinary research for the good of society and to communicate the results of such research through various media and varied audiences. Research at UA&P aims, above all, at a synthesis of humanistic, professional, scientific, and technical knowledge, inspired by a Christian view of man.

The University Credo

We believe that:

education is a lifelong process, and its focal point is and should always be the individual person;

the primary purpose of education is the integral formation of the human person, the fullest development of everything that is human in the individual;

it is an essential part of the mission of a school to help and complement the family in the exercise of its educational rights and duties;

a university must be ever attentive and responsive to the real needs of the community that sustains it, seek to significantly contribute to human progress, and do everything it can to uplift the moral, cultural, and material level of the country and region in which it operates; and

a university fulfills its role best when it forms individuals who are professionally competent, creative and enterprising, zealous for the common good, and capable of making free, morally upright choices, and who can thus act as positive agents of change in service to society.

We, who form part of the University of Asia and the Pacific, therefore, dedicate and commit ourselves to:

the highest standards of professional excellence in our academic, scientific, and cultural endeavors;

the inculcation of sound and time-tested human and social values and attitudes in people, beginning with those we work and live with and reaching out especially to those in most need of help in society;

the creation within the University of an atmosphere of academic serenity conducive not only to disciplined and diligent study, high-level research, and the responsible use of the freedom of scientific inquiry, but also to mutual respect, openness, understanding, and friendship, without discrimination of any kind; and above all, the arduous but most spiritually rewarding pursuit of wisdom, the synthesis of love of God and knowledge, faith and reason, culture and life. [www.uap.edu.ph University of Asia and the Pacific Website]