The University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP) is a regional state university created in 1978 through Batas Pambansa Bilang 12. The university is an integration of four state institutions: Mindanao State University-Davao, the University of the Philippines-Master of Management Program in Davao, the Davao School of Arts and Trades, and the Davao National Regional Agricultural School.
The university has four campuses: Obrero (main) and Mintal campuses in Davao City, Tagum-Mabini Campus which has two units — one in Tagum City and one in Compostela Valley Province — and Bislig Campus in Surigao del Sur.
History
December 15, 1978, marked the birth of the first ever state university in Region XI. On this date, Batas Pambansa Blg. 12 was passed, thereby creating the University of Southeastern Philippines.
The integration of the School of Arts and Trades (DSAT) and the Davao National Regional Agricultural School (DNRAS) paved the way for the birth of the five USeP campuses: the Davao City main campus in Obrero with an area of 6.5 hectares; the Mintal campus, Davao City that has an area of 2.8 hectares; the Tagum campus, Tagum City with a 77-hectare land area; the Mabini campus which lies in a 109-hectare land area in Mampising, Mabini, Compostela Valley Province; and the latest addition, Bislig campus in Bislig City, Surigao del Sur with an area of 9.7 hectares.
The early years saw birth of the College of Engineering and Technology in Obrero campus, the College of Forestry and Agriculture at Tagum and Mabini campuses and College of Arts and Sciences in Mintal campus. The succeeding years witnessed developments in the academic and administrative realms of USEP.
In 1993, through a Board of Regents (BOR) resolution, External Studies Programs were established. These were USEP-Hinatuan Ext. Program in Surigao Del Sur; USEP-Baganga External Studies Program in Davao Oriental; USEP-Kapalong College of Agricultural Technology and Entrepreneurship and USEP-Pantukan External Studies Program.
In 1996, USEP-Bislig campus in Surigao del Sur was established. PICOP waived nine hectares of Barangay Maharlika, Bislig for the initial campus.
From 1993 to 1997, new units were created. Among them were Mindanao Center for Policy Studies (MCPS); Affiliated Non-Conventional Energy Center (ANEC) for Region XI; Office of Admission and Student Records (OASR); Medical Division; Institute of Urban Finance and Management; University Testing and Guidance Office (UGTO); Project Implementation Unit (PIU); Institute of Computing (IC) and Center for Profess Administrative and organizational structure of the university to make it more responsive to changing needs and to enable the university to engage more in research and extension. Today, it has a modified organizational structure of the university, which sees the continued implementation of the university's decentralization policies under established policy guidelines, which has resulted to more effective and efficient units. The Evening Program implemented through BOR resolution No. 2732 accommodates students who could not make it in the regular day program with some variation in fees. Also, Summer Program has been approved. By the year 2001, the total number of curriculum offerings was 31 for the Graduate School and 28 for the Undergraduate Program.
Beginning 2002, the Office of the President under the administration of Dr. Julieta I. Ortiz identified and pursued Program Accreditation as one of the major thrusts of the university. The same year, three programs were awarded Level I status by AACCUP. These were BSED of USeP Tagum and Obrero, BEED of Obrero and Forestry and Agricultural Engineering of Tagum. Today, 16 of its undergraduate programs are accredited.
Recent Achievements
- Five PH Universities made it to Asia's top schools. In Mindanao, only University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP) made it.
- Level IV SUC status (Highest level)
- 19 Academic Programs accredited by the Accrediting Agency for Chartere Colleges and Universities in the Philippines (AACCUP) as of 2006
- One of top 20 HEIs nationwide as of 2001 per CHED & PRC’s 10-year study
- #1 top performing school nationwide in its category in the 2007 Forestry Licensure Examinations
- # 2 top performing school nationwide in its category in the 2007 EE Licensure Examination
- # 1 top performing school nationwide in its category in the 2006 and 2005 ECE Licensure Examination
- # 3 top performing school nationwide in its category in the 2006 EE Licensure Examination
- # 3 top performing school nationwide in its category in the 2006 Agricultural Engineering Licensure Examination
- # 1 top performing school nationwide in its category in the 2005 and 2004 EE Licensure Examination
- # 3 top performing school nationwide in its category in the 2005 and 2004 ME Licensure Examination
- # 4 top performing school nationwide in its category in the 2005 Agricultural Engineer Licensure Examination
- 100% passing rate in the 2005 EE Licensure Examination
Rankings
The University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP), a state university in Davao City, is one of the 15 Philippine universities that made it to the 2011 list of top Asian universities done by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).
In the recent QS rankings released on its official website, USeP is one of the Asian universities that occupied the 201+ ranking. The University ranks top five (5) among the 15 Philippine universities that made it to the list. The Philippine schools that occupied the top four (4) slots are the University of the Philippines; Ateneo de Manila University; De La Salle University; and University of Santo Tomas.
In 2012, USEP Davao made it for the first time to the 251-300 bracket in the Top 300 Asian Universities list of education and career network Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).
These are the only five schools in the Philippines that made it to the recent list:
- University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City (68th in Asia).
- Ateneo de Manila University (86th in Asia)
- De La Salle University (142nd in Asia)
- University of Santo Tomas (148th in Asia)
- University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP) (251st in Asia).