Silliman University

“Where the white sands and the corals kiss the dark blue Southern sea; and the palm trees tall and stately wave their branches in the breeze.” This line of a song was from the Silliman Hymn by Paul Doltz. It was described in the song that Silliman was a University beside the sea were cool breeze are coming in and the vibes of a summer can be felt in the campus. Around 300 plus acacia trees surrounding the campus can also be seen.

Silliman University is one of the oldest Universities in the country, as the first American University in the Philippines. It was established 117 years ago on the year 1901 by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions as Silliman Institute. The University was named after Dr. Horace Brinsmade Silliman, he is a retired businessman and philanthropist. Starting as an elementary school for boys, the school expanded to become a college in 1910, and acquired the university status in the year 1938. For the first half of the 20^th century, Silliman was run and operated by the Americans. After the World War II, Filipinos began to assume more administrative positions and appointed the first Filipino President on the year 1952.

Silliman University was one of the eight Philippine Universities in the 2019 QS Top 500 University rankings in Asia. Silliman joins the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, University of Santo Tomas, Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, University of San Carlos and Mapua University in the ranks.

In terms of accreditation, Silliman is one of only five universities in the Philippines with Institutional Accreditation by the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP). Institutional Accreditation is the highest certification that can be granted to an educational institution after an over-all examination of its number of accredited programs, the quality of its facilities, services and faculty. Silliman also has the highest number of accredited programs in the country, twenty of which are on Level IV accreditation status, the highest level that can be granted to individual programs. Today, the university comprises ten colleges, five schools, and three institutes, enrolling over 9,600 students from the Philippines and from at least 30 foreign countries.

Silliman was not just rich in history; it is also diverse with different cultures, races, beliefs, gender, personalities, and even political views. Trivia! Did you know that Silliman this year was dominated by international students? Yes, this years’ SUSG or the Silliman University Student Government president was an American, the Miss Silliman 2018 was a Nigerian, the Mr. Hibalag 2018 was a Dutch and the current University President was married to an American citizen.