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.
University of the City of Manila
In the early 1960s, the site was rehabilitated by the city government and a building was constructed at General Luna Street to house the students of Manila High School. However, on April 24, 1965, the late President Diosdado Macapagal issued "Proclamation 392-A", giving to the proposed city university the three-hectare lot being occupied by Manila High School. On February 26, 1967, the new complex along Victoria Street was inaugurated, and the students of Manila High School was transferred there. And, finally, on July 17, 1967, the first batch of PLM scholars began its academic pursuits in the site where the very roots of the modern educational system in the Philippines may be found.