UST MADE its biggest splash outside of Luzon as it opened an 82.2-hectare campus in General Santos (GenSan) in Mindanao, a city of about 700,000 residents, with the goal of broadening its mission of knowledge-building to develop “competent, compassionate, and committed” students, as its “vision-mission” states.
Despite concerns that a prominent new institution might attract students from established schools in Mindanao, Bro. Manny V. de Leon, F.M.S., president of Notre Dame of Dadiangas University (NDDU), said UST could positively impact Catholic education in the region.
“UST’s arrival in General Santos is a welcome development,” the Marist brother told the Varsitarian in a mix of English and Filipino. “As the Dominican prior provincial said, it is not here to compete but to contribute.”
Fr. Filemon de la Cruz, O.P., head of the Filipino Dominicans and vice chancellor of UST, was among the church officials present at the inauguration of the UST GenSan campus in April, along with UST Rector Fr. Richard Ang, O.P. and Marbel Bishop Cerilo Alan Casicas.
De Leon acknowledged that the arrival of UST in GenSan could raise concerns about competition among other tertiary institutions in the city. Nevertheless, he said southern school leaders should collaborate.
“We feel that we have an obligation to cooperate. Our objective really is to produce students who are good citizens. That’s all, so there’s no conflict. We can compete in sports to develop students, but not to the point of undermining each other. We’re educators, and we don’t behave that way.”
Perhaps General Santos’ most famous claim to fame is that world-champion boxer Manny Pacquiao is a native, and that it is known as “The Tuna Capital of the Philippines.” However, for an educator like De Leon, General Santos aspires to be an “educational town.”
The opening of UST in GenSan is also seen as a step towards creating more opportunities for students in Mindanao and beyond. De Leon said UST’s potential to attract students from regions such as the Visayas and Northern Mindanao could contribute to the dream of making GenSan a leading educational center in the south.
“We are promoting the idea that eventually, GenSan will become an educational town. We hope that with UST’s arrival, this dream will be realized,” he said.
There are several notable institutions in General Santos, such as NDDU, where De Leon is president, Mindanao State University, and Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges, to name a few.
“If these institutions collaborate, share resources, and attract more students here, then if UST can draw students from the Visayas, Northern Mindanao, the dream of making GenSan an educational town can develop, and we can improve the educational system in GenSan.”
One example of resource-sharing is Gina Andas de Guzman, a former NDDU faculty member who, after spending 27 years at NDDU until her retirement, has joined UST GenSan as the director of its School of Engineering and Information Technology. Meanwhile, the dean of NDDU’s business college is a graduate of UST Manila.
“When you share knowledge, you don’t lose anything,” De Leon said. “The mindset is that NDDU cannot cater to all the young people in GenSan, and it would be selfish to prevent others from coming in.”
He also mentioned the possibility of forming educational consortia with other institutions, noting that NDDU, UST, and other schools could collaborate in areas where each institution has strengths to benefit the academic community in the region.
“Hopefully, we can help each other, create a consortium, or, for instance, if we’re weak in a certain area, we can seek help from UST,” he said.
UST GenSan launched its inaugural year offering programs in Medical Technology, Pharmacy, Industrial Engineering, Entrepreneurship, and Accounting Information Systems. These programs are similarly offered at NDDU, which features a prominent health and sciences college.
De Leon also expressed hope that UST would find its niche as it opened with only 126 students in its inaugural semester, short of its 400-student target. In comparison, NDDU has around 4,000 tertiary-level students.
(Photo by Jeremy R. Edera/ The Varsitarian)
“The goal is to identify the niche, the target niche of UST. Hopefully, we don’t end up cannibalizing each other because that wouldn’t be healthy competition,” De Leon said.
“Hopefully, we determine our own niche, our strengths, and then help each other. That’s what I hope for.”
Professor Emeritus Maribel Nonato, assistant to the rector for the Mindanao campus, previously said that UST GenSan aims to position itself as a leading campus in agricultural technology (agri-tech) in five to 10 years.
De Leon pointed out that while several colleges in GenSan already offer agriculture programs, they are not highly sought after. He said he hopes that UST GenSan could contribute to environmental research, including studies on mining, which is prevalent in the area despite the bishop’s opposition.
“If the academic community…can produce solid data on the effects of mining on water quality, on agriculture, that could help the government decide whether to proceed with the project.”
The Dominicans acquired the land for UST GenSan in 1997 and started development in 2018, with the GenSan Main Building reaching its final stage in 2021. NDDU, run by the Marists or the Society of Mary (with Notre Dame meaning “Our Lady” in French), maintains a strong relationship with the Dominicans in the south, according to De Leon.
De Leon acknowledged the distinct role that UST, as a Catholic and pontifical university, plays in shaping the moral and spiritual development of its students. He stressed that like other Catholic schools in GenSan, it must remain focused on its mission of evangelization.
“Being a Catholic university, we don’t lose focus that our main purpose for existence is to evangelize. How do we bring them to Jesus, to God? By our example, by our teaching.”
GenSan houses the fifth largest Muslim population among cities in Mindanao. Seventy percent of its population is Roman Catholic.
UST GenSan is the largest UST campus to date, being twice the size of the 40-hectare UST Santa Rosa, the research hub in Laguna where the first building was inaugurated last year, and four times the size of the 21-hectare main campus in Manila.
