Mapua Institute of Technology

Within the walls of the Philippines’ most popular heritage site of Intramuros lies the country’s seat of technological education excellence. Don Tomas Mapúa, the first registered Filipino architect, founded Mapúa University (Mapúa) on January 25, 1925, with the vision of it becoming an educational institution that would give the necessary emphasis on the growing importance of science and technology in the improvement of the country’s economy and the quality of life of its citizens. This vision led to Mapúa’s pioneering of technical course offerings in the country, beginning with the programs Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (CE) and B.S. Architecture (AR).
 
The University shall provide a learning environment in order for its students to acquire the attributes that will make them globally competitive.The University shall engage in publishable and/or economically viable research, development, and innovation.The University shall provide state-of-the-art solutions to problems of industries and communities.

Mapúa University aims at the empowerment of the youth by providing education grounded on academic excellence and strength of character. Students are expected to develop the passion for mental knowledge and meritorious performance as well as the recognition of moral values as essential to growth of character. the integration of humanities and the social sciences into the technical curriculum has paved the way to the achievement of this goal.Mapúa upholds the reinforcement of time honored values learned in school and at home directed towards the development in the student of a strong moral fiber that will contribute to his/her personal well-being as well as that of oher members of society.

The Mapúa University offers its students professional and advanced scientific and engineering education with a healthy dose of the arts, letters, philosophy and social sciences to form men and women who shall possess not only technological expertise but also the human values and perspective that promote moral development.

For almost nine decades of excellence in technical instruction, Mapúa has grown to be the Philippines’ biggest engineering school, with at least 15 undergraduate and 18 graduate engineering programs. Its enrollees account for at least 16% of the total student population in B.S. in Chemical (ChE), Civil (CE), Computer (CpE), Electrical (EE), Electronics (ECE), Environmental and Sanitary (EnSE), Industrial (IE), and Mechanical Engineering (ME) programs of the top 10 engineering schools in the country, based on Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) 2010 enrollment data. Mapúa’s program offerings in other fields of study have also expanded particularly in Architecture and Design, Information Technology (IT), Business and Management, Multimedia Arts and Sciences, Social Sciences, and Health Science.

Mapúa’s efforts to continuously improve the quality of its education have been notable. For demonstrating high standards in classroom instruction, research, and extension service, CHED declared the University as National Center of Development for CE, CpE, CS (Computer Science), EE, ECE, IE, IT, and ME programs. Industry partnership has also been given more focus in the recent years by the University. Currently, it has tie-ups with hundreds of local and international educational institutions, organizations, and companies for its faculty development, collaborative researches, and student internships. Such efforts enabled Mapúa to consistently produce topnotchers in licensure examinations. On record, the University’s board heroes have reached close to 300 since 2002.

Mapúa moves to fine-tune its teaching standards with a series of accreditations. For one, the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (PACUCOA) affirmed the University’s high standards in educational operations, granting Level IV accreditation to its CE program and Level III accreditation to its CpE, EE, ECE, EnSE, and IE programs. From 2010 to 2011, Mapúa has proven itself at par with other first-rate universities around the world when ABET, Inc. granted its first accreditation seal in the entire East Asia to its eight Engineering programs (ChE, CE, CpE, EE, ECE, EnSE, IE, and ME) and two computing programs (B.S. Computer Science and B.S. Information Technology), putting it ahead of the rest of educational institutions in the country.

Alongside its pursuit of academic excellence, Mapúa also endeavors to be part of the solution to the global issue of climate change. Mapúa has long been an advocate of environment conservation and engineering for the environment, beginning with the opening of its B.S. Environmental and Sanitary Engineering (EnSE) program in 1958, followed by the opening of its Master of Science in Environmental Engineering program in 2001 and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering program in 2004. EnSE’s curriculum currently includes 17 three-unit courses related to protection and conservation of and engineering for the environment. Furthermore, the University has also included environmental engineering and environmental science courses in all of its engineering and non-engineering programs, respectively. Mapúa believes that these courses are enough introductions for all the students to understand the real situation of the environment. It is also believed that these courses are sufficient to train them to be able to design, construct, and implement sustainable solutions to environmental problems.

To complement its instruction, Mapúa included in its 2010–2020 initiatives the reduction of its carbon footprint. To initiate an institutional effort of carbon footprint reduction (CFR), the University formed a core group led by the Subject Chairperson for Chemical Engineering (ChE) Dr. Alvin R. Caparanga. Some ChE students were commissioned to conduct an initial study to compute the University’s total carbon footprint. Upon the presentation of results, the CFR committee convened to come up with necessary actions to be taken by the University to reduce its carbon footprint, which is mainly produced by its consumption of energy, water, and paper. Together with the different schools and offices, the CFR committee has gathered best practices for the conservation of its resources. Mapúa has moved to replace all of its lamps with more energy-efficient ones. This will immediately be followed by the school’s replacement of its air-conditioning units. The CFR group is currently in the process of setting targets and monitoring guidelines for this effort, aiming for full implementation in 2012.

Apart from its internal efforts, Mapúa also has extension services dedicated to address environmental concerns through education. Under its Social Orientation and Community Involvement Program (SOCIP), the University has conducted seminars on recycling, energy conservation, and use of renewable energy; information drive about global warming and pollution in the community; and tree-planting and clean-and-green projects in partnership with the government and non-government organizations.