Silliman University

Silliman University (also referred to as Silliman or SU) is a private university in Dumaguete, Philippines. Established in 1901 as Silliman Institute by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, it is the first American and Protestant founded institution of higher learning in the Philippines and in Asia.

The university was named after Dr. Horace Brinsmade Silliman, a former businessman and philanthropist from Cohoes, New York who provided the initial sum of $10,000 for the establishment of the school. Starting as an elementary school for boys, the school expanded to become a college in 1910, acquiring university status in 1938. Silliman University was run and operated by Americans during the first half of the 20th century. After the Second World War, Filipinos began to assume more administrative positions, resulting in the appointment of the university's first Filipino president in 1952.

In terms of accreditation, Silliman is one of top five universities in the Philippines with "Institutional Accreditation" by the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP). The Institutional Accreditation is the highest accreditation that can be granted to an educational institution after an assessment of its number of accredited programs, its facilities, its services, and its faculty is conducted on a whole. Incidentally, Silliman also has the highest number of accredited programs in the country, twenty of which are on Level IV accreditation status, the highest level that can be granted to individual programs.

Over 10,000 students attending the university from the Philippines and at least 56 other countries are enrolled in ten colleges, five schools, and three institutes. It is registered as a National Landmark by the National Historical Institute and is one of few private higher education institutions in the Philippines that have been granted full autonomous status by the Commission on Higher Education. It is also a founding member of the Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia (ACUCA) and one of the recognized institutions in the U.S. Veterans Administration's list of approved educational institutions.

In spite of the fact that it was established by a religious organization, Silliman is independent in legal and juridical governance. It maintains a link with Central Philippine University (CPU) and historically regards it as a sister school. CPU was founded by the Protestant Baptist Americans in 1905 in Iloilo City.

The university offers programs in the fields of early childhood education, elementary education, secondary education, undergraduate education, as well as graduate education. Programs in the undergraduate and graduate levels cover disciplines such as arts, accountancy, agriculture, architecture, business administration, engineering, English, Filipino, information technology, law, medicine, nursing, anthropology, biology, chemistry, clinical sciences, pharmacy education, teacher education, economics, environmental science, fine arts, theater and performing arts, foreign languages, geology, journalism, library science, marine sciences, nutrition and dietetics, music, physics, theology, philosophy, psychology, public administration and social work. In addition to its academic undertakings, the university is involved in research and community extension projects. Silliman's stature in the fields of environmental and marine sciences has led to its being designated by the USAID as a 'Center of Excellence in Coastal Resources Management.'