Bukidnon State College, now a university

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / June 1) – Bukidnon’s 83-year old Bukidnon
State College is now a university, its administration announced in its
Internet website.

President Arroyo signed into law Republic Act No. 9456 on May 15,
2007, which declared the elevation of the BSC into a university. She
signed the Act three months after the Senate approved the proposal on
February 19.

The signing also came a month after nine graduates of BSC’s School of
Law, the first law school in the province, passed the 2006 bar
examinations.

BSC projects itself as the “heart of teacher education in Mindanao.”The new university, to be called Bukidnon State University, is the
province’s second university after Bukidnon Agricultural School was
converted into what is now known as Central Mindanao University in
1965. The BSC opened in the central Mindanao province as Bukidnon
Normal School in 1924.

A staff at the BSC administration office told MindaNews Friday via
telephone the inauguration rites will be on June 14. Current college
president Dr. Victor M. Barroso will become the first university
president.

According to its website, BSU “shall primarily provide advanced
education, higher technological, professional instruction and training
in the fields of education, arts and sciences, public administration,
information technology, accountancy, law and other relevant fields of
study. It shall also promote research and extension service, and
provide progressive leadership in its areas of specialization.”

As of November 12, 2006, Bukidnon State College has seven schools,
including the schools of Graduate Studies, Law, Arts and Sciences,
Business Administration and Information Technology, Education,
Community Education and Industrial Technology, School of Nursing, and
Laboratory Schools for pre-school, elementary and secondary education.

In 1924, BSC started as a two year secondary school known as Bukidnon
Provincial Elementary School. Four years later, it started to offer a
four-year secondary normal curriculum.

In 1976, Presidential Decree 944 converted BNS into Bukidnon State
College. (Walter I. Balane / MindaNews)