IN LINE with the University’s growth and expansion program for VISION 2011, UST’s Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Engineering, and other technology- and health-related courses may soon be transferred to a new campus in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
According to UST Rector Fr. Tamerlane Lana, O.P., this is aimed at attracting more students to the courses as a response to the shortage of physicians, nurses, and engineers. He explained the Commission on Higher Education had raised the alarm on the declining number of entrants to these professions.
UST recently bought the 40-hectare Laguna lot, located 700 meters from the South Super Highway, for the University’s expansion program.
“It would be a major change of venue, but it will be good especially for students who live outside Metro Manila and those in the south,” said Dr. Nenita Co, a professor of the Pharmacology Department of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery.
Another UST Hospital would likewise be built in Sta. Rosa along with an Information Technology Building.
Fr. Lana hopes that by 2011 the school would be finished or at least most of the buildings erected.
Meanwhile, UST will tap French assistance for the expansion project. Fr. Lana is expected to meet with French government representatives this month to discuss the project’s cost and feasibility.
Aside from the Sta. Rosa property, the University has also acquired land in General Santos City, South Cotabato for another extension campus. University officials said alumni had long asked for a UST presence in the South.
Administration insiders said another extension campus is also being considered in Baguio City. Elka Krystle R. Requinta
