History of the Ateneo de Manila
The Ateneo de Manila University (Filipino: "Pamantasang Ateneo de Manila") is a private research university in Quezon City, Philippines. Founded in 1859 by the Society of Jesus, the Ateneo is the third-oldest university in the Philippines.
The founding of the Ateneo de Manila University has its roots in the history of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) as a teaching order. The first Spanish Jesuits in the Philippines, Alonzo Sánchez and Antonio Sedeño, arrived in 1581 as missionaries. They were custodians of the "ratio studiorum", the Jesuit system of education developed around 1559. Within a decade of their arrival, Sedeño and the Jesuits had founded the Colegio de Manila ("Colegio Seminario de San Ignacio") in the historic core of Manila, Intramuros, in 1590. The Colegio formally opened in 1595, the first school in the Philippines.
History of the Ateneo de Manila
In May 2011, the university was granted Level IV Re-Accredited Status and Institutional Accreditation by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) through the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP) and the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU), the first time that both citations were awarded to a university simultaneously. In 2011 Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, S.J., retired from the presidency of Ateneo and was succeeded by Fr. Jose Ramon T. Villarin, S.J. On November 25, 2011 the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU) awarded the Ateneo de Manila Loyola Schools Level IV Re-accreditation for 21 academic programmemes as well as Institutional Accreditation.