Foundation University Celebrates 76 years of Excellence, Commitment, Integrity, and Service

In 1949, Dr. Vicente G. Sinco returned to Dumaguete City. He’d already made a name for himself as an accomplished legal scholar and diplomat, representing the Philippines as one of the signatories for the United Nations Charter in 1945. Having served as Dean for the College of Law and consequently the eighth President of the University of the Philippines, he shaped the postwar direction of education and political order in the country’s fragile decades of recovery. 

Only a few years would have passed since the Second World War. At this point, the Philippines was unsteady, hollowed out through years of occupation. Rebuilding was slow and often agonizing. In Manila, government offices and school buildings were leveled completely by the month-long battle.

When he arrived at the quiet, wind-swept shores of Dumaguete City, Dr. Vicente G. Sinco opened what would become Foundation College. It was conceived with the intention of extending opportunities — welcoming disadvantaged youths and students with talent who had been left with few, if any, paths to tertiary education. 

The idea had gathered enough weight to take form, and on July 4, 1949, the college officially began its operations.

In its earliest days, the school admitted only a small number of enrollees, many of whom were housed in rented quarters in the Teves Building, at the corner of Perdices and San Jose Streets.

Dr. Sinco established Foundation as a nonprofit and secular institution. Shaped by a pervading sense of duty and an integrated view of education, the early years would be carried forward by his vision and the commitment of a small group of educators, though they unfolded under the practical uncertainties that often accompanied new institutions.

In keeping Filipino values and identity at its core, Dr. Sinco envisioned a university that was “Filipino in philosophy, Filipino in objectives, Filipino in orientation, and Filipino in culture.” He prioritized local engagement, grounding the curriculum in the cultural and economic realities of the Negros region. Yet this outlook remained reflective — open to global ideas and with a maintained search for truths beyond local borders.

From the outset, the community held competence and character as twin imperatives. 

Dr. Sinco rejected the idea of education as enterprise, a social institution measured and cajoled by the logic of profit. Its true returns, he believed, emerged through the making of “educated Filipinos”. Without concession, he repeatedly insisted that “standardization is desirable in factories and machines” only, and that “it is detestable in institutions of higher learning.” 

The intended yield for education were not docile and alienated laborers, but principled men who could meaningfully contribute to national interests. The central purpose of education is, after all, the development of the intellect. 

The trajectory of Foundation University’s purpose became more defined as its academic and public role developed. The initial class offerings were few and modest, but the scale of ambition from its administrators kept it moving upwards. By then, the university had begun to give form to Dr. Sinco’s threefold vision of education through teaching, research, and community service.

This framework would find affirmation 14 years later, when the university was admitted to the International Association of Universities, a global consortium in France recognizing higher-education institutions (HEIs) with demonstrated commitments to academic integrity and international cooperation.

By the mid‑1960s, the seeds planted by the founder had begun to mature and blossomed ever fuller.

When the Department of Education awarded Foundation its university status on January 28, 1969, it did so in recognition of the consistent achievement in academic and teaching excellence of the staff and governing body.

Instruction remained central, but as the university deepened its roots, research efforts broadened and engagement with the community began to shape the rhythm of institutional life. Outreach projects, fieldwork initiatives and local partnerships became routine extensions of learning. The university slowly became a place of preparation for more thoughtful forms of leadership.

Today, the main campus bears steady marks of continuity. Older buildings preserved a kind of institutional memory, holding within their walls echoes of thousands of lectures and small revolts of thought that passed without doubt. 

Newer buildings rose beside them without erasure, and with each presidency, newer spaces were added to commemorate Dr. Sinco’s early act.

Over seven decades, Foundation University responded to the city’s changes without losing its peculiar calm. The main campus, located near the downtown area and just shy of the city’s center, still remains idyllic. 

Academic life at the university remains deliberately attentive. As it was 76 years ago, professors were expected to be present with their students, with classes structured to be highly intimate. The university calendar included time for field research and student-organized symposia. Although slow by design, this kind of study environment encouraged a habit of mind that would outlast the pace of novelty and distraction.

As it would stand, public purpose became a working principle of the university’s operations. This interest took the shape of small but persistent collaborations with local individuals and non-government groups. Agricultural experiments, literacy workshops, health surveys, and cultural documentation efforts became a regular mainstay of university research efforts. This community-oriented ethic would find its clearest expression in the creation of Estudio Damgo, a student-led design-build initiative that translated academic training into direct community benefit.

Administrators, most of whom had once been students or faculty, held the institution together with a strong sense of inheritance. They guarded its character, but not in the way one might preserve an artifact, sealed off from the conditions that gave it meaning. Curricula is constantly revised to accommodate shifting fields of knowledge and needs, and partnerships are regularly expanded to reflect a sustained attention towards the world.

From a few rented rooms in the center of Dumaguete, the university now spans a 9-hectare campus along Dr. Miciano Road, with additional facilities across the highway, including the Foundation Preparatory Academy beside Dr. V. Locsin St. 

In its working pace, the character of the place has changed little. Foundation University remains human. The student population has grown larger and more diverse, but the university remains nonsectarian and relatively familiar. Many classes in fact are still held in the modest, low-rise buildings, although larger structures have been erected alongside them.

Under the guidance of architect and current President Victor Vicente “Dean” Sinco, grandson of the university’s founder, technological installations became integrated into campus life and instruction. 

Many things set the present apart from the past, but perhaps it is the quiet consolidation of Dr. Sinco’s purpose that makes the 76th anniversary more resonant. The days of survival have passed; and the era of experimentation has yielded a more focused direction. 

Foundation University is no longer preoccupied with proving its legitimacy. Instead, it concentrated all force on refining its strengths in identifying regionally relevant research and a developing a curriculum that is responsive to the peculiarities of the nation.

As Foundation University celebrates its 76th year, the occasion calls for a clearer and steady recollection of its founder’s vision.

To commemorate this event, a ceremony was held yesterday, July 5, at the Foundation Preparatory Academy Science Wing.

Faculty, staff, and returning alumni gathered to honor the institution’s long-standing legacy.

Among the attendees were members of the Foundation University High School Class of 2005, known as The Pathfinders, who were formally inducted during a turnover ceremony. The class donated one unit Daikin 2 HP Inverter Air Conditioner and one 55-inch TCL Smart TV.

One of the highlights of the celebration was the Then and Now video, a moving sequence tracing the university’s development from its earliest wooden classrooms to the modern buildings that now house laboratories and modern learning spaces.

President Emeritus Mira G. Sinco received a heartfelt tribute from students and faculty. In response, she offered brief but poignant remarks, affirming her faith in the university’s future.

Happy 76th Founding Anniversary, Foundation University!