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.
Ateneo de Manila University
In 2005, the academic programs of the Loyola Schools have been granted Level IV accreditation—the highest possible level—from 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). In 2011 it was also granted Institutional Accreditation by the same body, the first time that both citations were awarded to a university simultaneously. Ateneo de Manila is one of few universities granted autonomous status by CHED, which likewise recognizes a number of the university's programmes and departments as Centers of Excellence and Centers of Development.
The grade school and high school divisions both have the highest (level III) of accreditation from PAASCU and FAAP.