San Beda College

San Beda College

San Beda College (SBC or San Beda) or Dalubhasaan ng San Beda in Filipino is a Private Benedictine college run by the Benedictine monks in the Philippines. It is located on Mendiola Street in San Miguel, Manila. It was founded in 1901 primarily to "defend the Catholic battlements in the field of education." San Beda, which was known then as El Colegio de San Beda, started as an all-boys grade school. It has since then expanded to a full college with both undergraduate and post-graduate degree offerings. It has two other campuses: the San Beda College-Rizal (the largest San Beda campus in size) and the San Beda College Alabang (formerly known as St. Benedict College and Benedictine Abbey School) located in Alabang Hills Village in Muntinlupa City. The San Beda Graduate School of Liturgy in Manila traces its academic roots and origins to the PIL.

Located in a once quiet, middle-class residential area, San Beda College is now part of Manila's bustling University Belt, an irregular crescent curving for about six kilometers through six districts of Manila, containing more than thirty colleges and universities.

San Beda College offers programs in the fields of accountancy, business, marketing, and law. At present, the Benedictine College has seven departments: the Basic Education Department; the College of Arts and Sciences, which offers liberal arts, science and business programs; the College of Law, founded in 1948; the Graduate Schools of Business, Liturgy and Law; the College of Medicine, and the College of Nursing. In 2003, the once all-male San Beda College finally opened its doors to female students and relocated its Basic Education Department (pre-school to high school) to a new and bigger campus in Taytay, Rizal.

The school is a founding member of the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), where it competes in sports such as basketball, football, swimming, taekwondo, and lawn tennis. The school has adopted for itself the moniker, "San Beda Red Lions." Its brother school, San Beda College Alabang is a member of sports leagues such as the WNCAA, NCAA South and the National Cheerleading Competition (NCC).

San Beda College counts among its notable high school alumni the late Senator and hero Benigno Aquino, Jr., the late statesman and former senator Raul Roco, former speaker Ramon V. Mitra, human rights advocate and former senator Rene V. Saguisag, San Miguel Corporation chairman Ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr., corporate magnate and PLDT Chairman Dr. Manuel V. Pangilinan, Supreme Court Associate Justices Antonio Eduardo B. Nachura and Jose Catral Mendoza, and Department of Justice Secretary, Atty. Leila De Lima.