Butuan’s oldest college now a university

BUTUAN CITY — Butuan City’s 104-year-old Fr. Urios College is now Fr. Saturnino Urios University.

This was announced by Fr. John Young, president of the university, during a press conference here recently.

As the oldest educational institution of this city and probably in the entire Caraga Region, Urios was founded by then Parish Priest Fr. Saturnino Urios in 1902 to cater mainly to students in Butuan City who normally go to Cebu City and other nearby cities to acquire college education.

"It was a product of a 10-year initiative that finally we were given a university status by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). It is a welcome development to us and to the retirees who worked hard for this university status for the school," said Fr. Young at the press conference held at the University’s High School Department Audio Visual Room.

Fr. Saturnino Urios University is the first university in Butuan City and in the entire Caraga Region as the state-owned Northern Mindanao State Institute for Science and Technology’s (NORMSIST) application for a state university is still pending at the Senate Committee Education. — Ben Serrano