Article by: Therese Anne B. Cruz
Photos by: Kristin Clarisse H. Mateo, Maurine Claire F. Kim, Aliza Belle C. Dayao
Continuing its anticipation of the institution’s centennial anniversary in 2025, Mapúa University (MU) celebrated this year’s University Day with the theme “Road to 100” at the Intramuros Campus last May 5. The day-long event was also streamed live on MU’s official Facebook page.
In line with University Day, the school opened its gates to students, employees, and alumni, for a public gathering, the first time in two years since the start of the nationwide lockdown last 2020.
MU President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Reynaldo B. Vea delivered his opening remarks wherein he recognized the University’s achievements in the past years. “We celebrate, today, the expanding comprehensiveness of our academic programs spreading out from the center of our wonted engineering and technology programs,” he stated.
Dr. Vea cited the school’s accomplishments including ranking in all 17 Sustainable Development Goals under the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings, having 450 papers indexed under Scopus, establishing the technology business incubator called Think and Tinker Laboratory , and achieving four stars in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Intelligence Unit.
“…We celebrate the fruits of our engineering efforts in outcomes-based education that has become a model for the Commission of Higher Education towards quality education. We celebrate our attainment of the mission of Mapúa to be among the best universities in the world,” he added.
Furthermore, the MU President and CEO expressed his gratitude to the students, alumni, faculty members, officers, administration staff, and board members who were instrumental in the achievements of the University throughout the decades and for being part of the “continuing journey towards being a great global and digital university”.
Dr. Vea also called the Mapúan community’s support for the Mapúa Cardinals, the seniors’ basketball team, in their quest for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship title, which was last attained by the University in 1991. This was followed by a mini-pep rally to cheer on the red and gold squad for their then-upcoming battle with the San Beda Red Lions last May 8 in the semi-finals of NCAA Season 97 at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
The event then proceeded with raffle draws and games, followed by a live concert party with Mapúa’s homegrown talents including Carlos De Guia, Kyla Miel Camerong, the band Cornedbeef, Grant Suarez, and Joseph Viola and celebrity guest acts, namely Justin Vasquez, Arthur Nery, and The Itchyworms. The day-long event ended with a fireworks display shown above the school grounds.
Mapúa University, then Mapúa Institute of Technology, commemorated its 97th founding anniversary last January 24-28, 2022. The higher education institution was formally granted its university status by the Commission on Higher Education last May 18, 2017.