MANILA, Philippines - An official of the University of the Philippines (UP) bared yesterday plans to build a graduate school at The Fort in Taguig City this year.
UP vice president for development Armin Sarthou Jr. said the project, which can cost up to some P500 million, will give professionals residing in the southern Manila area an opportunity to avail themselves of UP education.
“This project has been in the works for some years already and we deemed it proper since it is our mandate to bring education to the Filipino people. We want to push through with this and build ‘UP presence’ in that part of Metro Manila. Construction will start this year,” Sarthou said in an interview.
He added that “traffic is one major reason why (potential enrollees) are discouraged (from going) to the Diliman campus.”
He said the Taguig campus, which will be referred to as the UP Professional Schools at The Fort, will have a College of Law and offer graduate studies under the College of Business Administration (CBA), College of Engineering and College of Statistics.
Sarthou said the 4,300-square meter lot on which the campus will stand was offered for a 25-year lease by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority for very good terms. “Funding for the project will be shouldered by the UP Diliman system through its savings and a portion will come from the UP alumni,” he said.
Initially, the UP officials said they are looking at either coming up with a “Twin Tower” concept or a single building structure.
A feasibility study conducted earlier by the UP CBA found that location affects the motivation or interest of the people in choosing a school.
“We are losing potential students because of this issue of location. Since we want UP education to be accessible, we are now pushing through with this extension project,” Sarthou said.
He said they envision that initially, there will be some 300 students enrolling at each college at The Fort campus.