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 Institute of Technology (MIT) 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 MIT’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).

For almost nine decades of excellence in technical instruction, MIT 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. MIT’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.

MIT’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 Institute 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 Institute. 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 MIT to consistently produce topnotchers in licensure examinations. On record, the Institute’s board heroes have reached close to 300 since 2002.

MIT 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 Institute’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, MIT 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.