THE UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS IS THE OLDEST EXISTING UNIVERSITY in Asia. In terms of student population, it is the largest Catholic university in the world in a single campus. The institution was established through the initiative of Bishop Miguel de Benavides, O.P., the third Archbishop of Manila. On July 24, 1605, he bequeathed a modest amount of his personal funds for the establishment of a “seminary-college” to prepare young men for the priesthood. Those funds, and his personal library collection, became the nucleus for the start of UST and its library.

The founding of the University of Santo Tomas followed on April 28, 1611. The original campus was located in Intramuros, the Walled City of Manila. UST was first called Colegio de Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario, and later renamed Colegio de Santo Tomas, in memory of the foremost Dominican Theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas.

In 1624, the Colegio was authorized to confer academic degrees in Theology, Philosophy, and the Arts. By November 20, 1645, Pope Innocent X elevated the college to a university. In 1680, it was subsequently placed under the royal patronage of the Spanish monarchy. It was King Charles III of Spain who granted it the title of “Royal University” in 1785, for its exceptional loyalty in the fight to defend Manila against the British invaders.

On September 17, 1902, Pope Leo XIII made the University of Santo Tomas a “Pontifical University”, and by 1947, Pope Pius XII bestowed upon it the title of “The Catholic University of the Philippines”.

The continuing increase in enrolment prompted the administration, in 1927, to transfer the university campus from Intramuros to its present site in the Sampaloc district, which covers a total of 21.5 hectares. Since its establishment in 1611, the university academic life was disrupted only twice: once, from 1898 to 1899, due to the Philippine revolution against Spain; and, a second time, from 1942 to 1945, when the the Japanese Occupation Forces during the Second World War converted the UST main building into a concentration camp.

As it prepares for its 400th year by 2011, UST plans to establish campuses outside España Boulevard, Manila. A campus will rise in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, and another is forthcoming in General Santos City. Through these campuses, UST will continue to provide Filipinos with the characteristically high quality of Catholic education.