Silliman University Dumaguete

Silliman University (also referred to as Silliman or SU) is a private Christian institution of higher education located in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, Philippines. Established in 1901 by American missionaries, it was the first Protestant school to be founded in the country and the oldest American-established university in Asia.  The University is named after Dr. Horace Brinsmade Silliman, a retired businessman and philanthropist from Cohoes, New York who gave the initial sum of $10,000 to start the school. For the first half of the 20th century, Silliman was run and operated by Americans.

After the Second World War, however, Filipinos began to assume more important positions culminating in the appointment of Silliman’s first Filipino president in 1952.  Today, the University comprises ten colleges, four schools, and two institutes, enrolling approximately over 8,600 students from different parts of the Philippines and over 26 foreign countries. It is registered as a National Landmark by the National Historical Institute, and is one of few private higher education institutions in the Philippines that have been granted autonomy by the Commission on Higher Education.

In a report released by the Professional Regulation Commission and the Commission on Higher Education which covered a ten-year period, Silliman was ranked 4th in the country following three schools of the University of the Philippines.  Fifteen of its academic programs are on Level III accreditation status. Academic programs of the University undergo regular accreditation under any of two accrediting agencies, namely: (1) the Association of Christian Schools, Colleges and Universities Accrediting Agency (ACSCU-AAI) or (2) the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU) which is a member Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP). These accrediting agencies are all recognized by the Philippine educational system. The programs of Theology on the other hand are accredited with the Association for Theological Education in Southeast Asia (ATESEA), an international organization.

The University is a founding member of the Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia (ACUCA), and one of the recognized institutions in the U.S. Veterans Administration’s list of approved educational institutions.  Silliman offers programs in the early childhood, elementary, secondary, undergraduate and graduate levels. Programs in the undergraduate and graduate levels cover various disciplines such as Accountancy, Business Administration, Engineering, Information Technology, Law, Medicine, Nursing, Biology, Chemistry, Education, Marine Sciences, Physics, Theology, Philosophy, Psychology, and Public Administration. In addition to its academic undertakings, the University is also involved in research and community extension projects.

Location Map

Silliman has two campuses: the Hibbard Avenue main campus, and the College of Agriculture and Marine Lab campus. Dotted by large acacia trees, the main campus has a land area of 33 hectares.

[gmap]