University of the Philippines College of Engineering 4.2

The College of Engineering of the University of the Philippines Diliman is the largest degree-granting unit in the U.P. System in terms of student population. The college is also known formally as UP COE, COE, and informally as Eng'g (pronounced "eng").The College of Engineering is composed of eight (8) departments, six of which are housed in the historic Melchor Hall along Osmeña Avenue in the U.P. Diliman campus. The Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute has its own building along Velázquez Street in the Diliman Science Complex and Technology Incubation Park, while the Department of Computer Science (along with the College Library) moved into their own buildings near the EEEI building in early 2007.Since its establishment, the College has produced twenty (20) graduates with U.P. Summa Cum Laude honors. The COE produced its first Summa Cum Laude graduates in 1920 (Justo Arrastia, B.S.C.E, and Tomas Padilla Abello, B.S.M.E.), and the most recent was in 2015.The College is the college of engineering in the Philippines with the most CHED Centers of Excellence at eleven (11). All of its degree-granting departments have been recognized as a Center of Excellence.HistoryThe University of the Philippines was founded on June 18, 1908. The College of Engineering is the fifth college unit to be established. The University Board of Regents (BOR), in a resolution passed on June 3, 1910, appointed Mr. W.J. Colbert as acting Dean of the college. His appointment was set to effect on June 13, 1910 thereby creating the College of Engineering. The classes were held at a two-story building, the O’brien residence, at the corner of Isaac Peral (now United Nations Avenue) and Florida (now Maria Y. Orosa) streets in Ermita, Manila. The O’brien house was formally turned over to the College in September, 1910, and became known as the “College of Engineering.” Later on, as the Engineering Building and shops were constructed along the Florida side of the U.P. Campus in Ermita, that building became the Home Economics Building of the College of Education.