Ateneo de Manila University


The Ateneo de Manila University, also known simply as the Ateneo de Manila or the Ateneo and abbreviated as AdMU, is a private Catholic Jesuit research university in Quezon City, Philippines. It was founded in 1859 by the Society of Jesus, and has grown from a small publicly-funded school for the children of the Spanish colonial elite, into a nationally- and internationally-recognized teaching and research university. It is also one of several Jesuit-run educational institutions in the country bearing the Ateneo name.
The university provides instruction in both basic and higher education across eleven schools, clustered into three units. Higher education is provided by two units: the Loyola Schools, a group of four schools which provide undergraduate and graduate instruction in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, engineering, and business management; and the Professional Schools unit, composed of four schools providing professional education in law, medicine, business, and governance. Meanwhile, the Basic Education Unit, comprising the Grade School, Junior High School, and Senior High School, provides education in the K to 12 level. The different Ateneo units' curricula are generally based on the Jesuit education tradition. This is especially pronounced in the Loyola Schools, which follows a Catholic-rooted, liberal arts core curriculum. The university is also home to a number of research institutes and centers.
As of 2020, five Presidents of the Philippines, five Chief Justices of the Philippine Supreme Court, six National Artists, one National Scientist, and two Ramon Magsaysay awardees have been affiliated with the Ateneo, either as students, alumni, or faculty. The most notable among the Ateneo de Manila's alumni is José Rizal, considered the national hero of the Philippines.
The United Kingdom-based Quacquarelli Symonds ranks AdMU as the country's top private university, among the top 125 Asian universities, and among the top 600 universities worldwide in annual university rankings.

History

While Jesuit teaching efforts in Manila date back to 1595, the Ateneo de Manila University traces its founding to 1859 when the Jesuits, at the behest of Governor-General Fernándo Norzagaray y Escudero, took charge of the Escuela Municipal de Manila, a small school for the children of Spanish residents. In 1865, its name was changed to Ateneo Municipal de Manila when it became accredited as a secondary school. It began offering the bachelor's degree, as well as courses leading to certificates in agriculture, surveying, and business. When Americans occupied the Philippines in 1902, its subsidy from the city was withdrawn. The Jesuits removed the word "Municipal" from the school's name and it became simply the Ateneo de Manila. In 1908, the American colonial government licensed the Ateneo's bachelor degree and certificates in various disciplines. The Ateneo campus housed other Jesuit institutions of research and learning, such as the Manila Observatory and the San Jose Major Seminary.
American Jesuits replaced their Spanish brethren in 1912. In 1932, the original campus at Intramuros in Manila was destroyed by fire and the Ateneo moved to the San Jose Major Seminary grounds in Padre Faura, Ermita. The Ateneo campus was destroyed again in World War II. Ateneo reopened temporarily in Plaza Guipit in Sampaloc, Manila. The Padre Faura campus reopened in 1946 with Quonset huts serving as buildings among the campus ruins. In 1952, William Masterson moved most of the Ateneo units to its present Loyola Heights campus. The Padre Faura campus continued to house the professional schools until 1976. Francisco Araneta was appointed as the Ateneo de Manila's first Filipino rector in 1958. In 1959, its centennial year, Ateneo became a university.
On September 25, 1969, Pacifico Ortiz was installed as the first Filipino president of the Ateneo de Manila University. At this time, the Graduate School split into the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and what would become the Graduate School of Business. In 1968, the Ateneo co-founded the Asian Institute of Management. The Ateneo college opened its doors to its first female students in 1973. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences moved to Loyola Heights in 1976, and the Padre Faura campus closed in 1977 as the Graduate School of Business and the Law School moved to Salcedo Village, Makati. In February 1978, Ateneo opened what would become the Ateneo Computer Technology Center.
As student activism rose in the 1970s following the proclamation of martial law by President Ferdinand Marcos, Ateneans took an active role along with student organizations from other colleges and universities. On February 11, 1986, alumnus and Antique Governor Evelio Javier was shot and killed. Two weeks later, Ateneans joined thousands of Filipinos in the People Power Revolution along EDSA to oust Marcos.
In 1991, the School of Law became the first law school in the Philippines to confer the Juris Doctor degree. The Ateneo School of Government was established in 1996 and, in 1998, a campus housing the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, Ateneo School of Law, and the Ateneo School of Government, opened in Rockwell Center in Poblacion, Makati. The Science Education Complex was also completed in the Loyola Heights campus. In 2000, the School of Arts and Sciences, consisting of the undergraduate and graduate schools, was restructured into the Loyola Schools. In April 2002, the office of the university president established Pathways to Higher Education-Philippines, one of the university's outreach initiatives, with the help of the Ford and Synergeia Foundations. In July 2002, the Church of the Gesù was completed in the Loyola Heights campus. In 2003, the Ateneo entered into its partnership with Gawad Kalinga, its first formal, university-wide social action program.
In July 2006, the Manuel V. Pangilinan Center for Student Leadership was completed. The Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health facility in Ortigas Center, Pasig welcomed its first batch of professional students in June 2007. In 2008, work on a new Rizal Library facility began and a new set of university dormitories was inaugurated.

Schools

Professional Schools

The Ateneo Professional Schools is the professional education unit of Ateneo de Manila, and comprises the following four schools: the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, which offers a variety of Master of Business Administration concentrations, including a Master in Health Services Administration; the Ateneo School of Law, which confers the Juris Doctor and Master of Laws degrees; the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health, opened in 2007, which offers an integrated Doctor of Medicine and MBA program; and the Ateneo School of Government, which confers the Master in Public Management and Ph.D. in Leadership Studies degrees. The Professional Schools also confer certificates for short courses.

Loyola Schools

The Loyola Schools are the higher education unit of the Ateneo de Manila University since 2000, that offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the arts and sciences and operates under the Vice President of the university. It is located at the university's Loyola Heights campus in Katipunan, Quezon City. It confers the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Arts, Master of Science, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. It is composed of four schools, the School of Humanities, the John Gokongwei School of Management, the School of Science and Engineering, and the School of Social Sciences. The arrangement of the Loyola Schools academic buildings reflects its origin as a single College of Arts and Sciences.

Basic education

Grade School

The Ateneo de Manila Grade School is the elementary education unit of the Ateneo de Manila, and is the oldest unit in existence - Ateneo began as a government-run primary school during the Spanish colonial period. It is an all-boys school with a population of around 4,000 students. The school had implemented the K-12 program since the 2013–14 academic year. The Ateneo de Manila Grade School is one of the first elementary schools in the Philippines to adopt the Singapore math curriculum.

Junior High School

The Ateneo de Manila Junior High School is the middle school unit of the Ateneo de Manila University, offering the seventh to tenth grades for male students. It was established in 2013 to comply with the Philippines' K-12 education system. It currently occupies the old Ateneo High School campus.
The AJHS has utilized a house system since 2016, labeled as "support systems for formation" aimed at "intensifying the care and formation the school bestows upon its students." The AJHS is divided according to the following four clusters, named after pivotal places in the life of Saint Ignatius of Loyola: Cardoner, La Storta, Montserrat, and Pamplona. Each cluster has dedicated class moderators, subject teachers, guidance counselors, immersion coordinators, and staff to cater to the specific needs of the students. The cluster is led by a "cluster coordinator" who organizes a variety of activities, such as mentorships and team building.
Despite it offering secondary education, the AJHS offers an honors program for its English, Filipino, mathematics, and science classes. Students who choose to pursue the honors program are placed in a separate class with a more advanced program.
The AJHS student body is governed by the Sanggunian ng mga Mag-aaral ng Nakababatang Mataas na Paaralang Ateneo de Manila. The Sanggu-JHS is led by a chairman, who is aided by a secretary-general and a finance officer, alongside three vice-chairs who supervises each branch of the Sanggu-JHS. These branches are: the Assembly of Class Officers, which involves the governance of all class officers in each section and batch; the Council of Student Organizations, which involves the governance of all officers in each student organization referred to as "villages"; and the Athletics Council, which involves the governance of all varsity team officers.
The AJHS campus includes one library, the Faculty Instructional Technology Center, and a large athletics complex with one of the largest school-based covered courts facilities in the country. A theater group called Dulaang Sibol, founded by longtime faculty member Onofre R. Pagsanghan in 1956, continues to operate in the AJHS.

Senior High School

The Ateneo de Manila Senior High School is the senior high school unit of the Ateneo de Manila University, offering the eleventh and twelfth grades since 2013 following the restructuring of the university's high school units in adherence with the national K-12 program. Since the 2016–17 academic year, the ASHS has accepted female students.
The ASHS offers all four academic strands of the K-12 program. The ASHS currently occupies the new senior high school building topped off in 2016.

Loyola School of Theology

The Loyola School of Theology is a Jesuit school of theology and pastoral studies, run separately from but federated with the Ateneo de Manila University. It is located in the portion of the university's Loyola Heights campus that is geographically within Marikina. The school offers baccalaureate, licentiate, and doctoral ecclesiastical degrees in theology, as well as postgraduate degrees in theological studies, theology, and pastoral ministry from the Ateneo de Manila. It also supports the theology and religious education postgraduate programs of the Ateneo Loyola Schools' Department of Theology.

Campuses

Currently, the main Ateneo de Manila campus is located along Katipunan Avenue in Loyola Heights, Quezon City, Metro Manila. The campus houses the Loyola Schools and the university's grade school and high schools, as well as the Loyola School of Theology. Two other campuses, in Rockwell Center and Salcedo Village, both in Makati, house the university's professional schools of business, law, and government. A fourth facility in the Don Eugenio López Sr. Medical Complex in Ortigas Center, Pasig, houses its professional school of medicine and public health.

Loyola Heights

Overlooking the Marikina Valley, the main campus is located in Loyola Heights, along the eastern side of Katipunan Avenue, and is south of and adjacent to the campus of Miriam College. The Grade School, High School, and Loyola Schools are located in Ateneo's Loyola Heights campus. Beside the Grade School is the Henry Lee Irwin Theater, built in 1995 to house the school's formal events and productions. Complementing the old buildings of the Loyola Schools are the Science Education Complex, as well as the PLDT Convergent Technologies Center and the John Gokongwei School of Management Complex. In 2018, the university inaugurated the Areté, the Ateneo's "creative hub" for visual, practical, and performing arts. The Areté houses the Ateneo Art Gallery, the Hyundai Hall, the Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Black Box Theater, the Unionbank Ubuntu Space, and spaces for the Ateneo's collaborative degree program with Le Cordon Bleu. The Department of Fine Arts and the Ateneo Institute for the Science and Art of Learning and Teaching also hold office in the Areté.
Within the campus is the Rizal Library, the main university library. Also located here are numerous units and research centers affiliated with the Ateneo, such as the Institute of Social Order, Institute of Philippine Culture, Institute on Church and Social Issues, Asian Public Intellectuals Fellowships, the Philippine Institute for Pure and Applied Chemistry, the National Chemistry Instrumentation Center, the Jesuit Communications Foundation, the Jesuit Basic Education Commission, and others. Also situated here are the East Asian Pastoral Institute, Loyola School of Theology, and the San Jose Seminary, all Jesuit formation institutions federated with the Ateneo de Manila University. The Manila Observatory is also located on campus. Its athletic facilities include the Blue Eagle Gym, also known as the Loyola Center, standing at the southern end of the campus, and the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center on the northern end. The Blue Eagle Gym is one of the largest gymnasiums among the universities in Metro Manila while the MLSC is often used by the Philippines men's national basketball team as well as other professional teams for their training needs.
The Church of the Gesù, completed in July 2002, stands on top of the Sacred Heart Hill and overlooks the rest of the campus. The school's chapels include the St. Stanislaus Kostka Chapel and the Chapel of the First Companions in the high school, the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception in the college complex's Gonzaga Hall, the chapel at the Loyola House of Studies, and the Chapel of the Holy Guardian Angels in the grade school, among others. Two parish churches outside the campus, the Our Lady of Pentecost Parish in Varsity Hills and the Santa María della Strada Parish in Diliman, are within walking distance from the campus.
The Ateneo de Manila is also home to the largest Jesuit community in the Philippines, most of whom reside at the Jesuit Residence in the Loyola Heights campus. These Jesuits are involved in teaching, administration, and research within the university and its affiliated units.
Recently, the majority of the units in the Loyola Schools have been participating in the environmental initiatives started at the student organization and administrative levels. These have been grouped under the banner of the Ateneo Environmental Management Coalition, resulting in major changes in student lifestyle and resource management all over campus.

Rockwell Center

The Rockwell Center campus of the Ateneo de Manila University in Makati houses the Law School, Graduate School of Business, School of Government, AGSB-BAP Institute of Banking, and the Ateneo Center for Continuing Education. The campus was donated by the Lopez Group of Companies to the Ateneo de Manila University. It includes several research centers, a moot court facility, and the Ateneo Professional Schools Library.

Salcedo Village

The Salcedo Village campus in Makati houses the different facilities of the former Ateneo Information Technology Institute and the Ateneo Center for Continuing Education. This facility formerly housed the Professional Schools prior to the completion of the Rockwell campus in 1998.

Ortigas Center

The Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health at the Don Eugenio López Sr. Medical Complex in Ortigas Center, Pasig, opened its doors to its pioneering batch of students in June 2007. Beside the ASMPH is its partner hospital, The Medical City.

Campus sustainability

The Ateneo de Manila University established the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability in 2013 to oversee the research and implementation of the university's sustainable development initiatives. In 2014, the Ateneo launched an electric jeepney shuttle system operated by Meralco within its Loyola Heights campus to replace motorized tricycles as the means of transporting students and personnel around the campus; the Ateneo was the first educational institution in the Philippines to implement an electric jeepney transportation system.

Ateneo Blue Cloud

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Ateneo de Manila University launched the Ateneo Blue Cloud, an online platform for the university's scholarly community. Branded as the university's "virtual campus", the Ateneo Blue Cloud hosts school curricula materials based around their framework of an "adaptive design for learning", wherein online, blended, and face-to-face educational programs are accessible by registered users.

Academics

Programs

The Ateneo offers programs at the elementary, secondary, undergraduate, and graduate levels. Its academic offerings include the arts, humanities, business, law, social sciences, philosophy, theology, medicine and public health, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer science, engineering, environmental science, diplomacy, and government, with 48 Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees at the undergraduate level. At the postgraduate level there are 76 Master, Master of Arts, and Master of Science degrees; six Master of Business Administration programs; two Master of Laws concentrations; one Master of Public Management degree; two professional Doctor of Medicine and Juris Doctor programs, and 16 doctorate degrees. As is common in the Philippines, the primary medium of instruction is English, with a few classes taught in Filipino. Aside from teaching and research, the Ateneo de Manila also engages in social outreach. Known for its liberal arts tradition, the humanities are a key feature of Ateneo education at all levels of study.
Individual schools conduct separate admissions processes. Admission into one unit in no way guarantees admission into another unit.

Undergraduate core curriculum

A key feature of the Loyola Schools is a liberal arts undergraduate core curriculum, required for all undergraduates. It includes philosophy, English and Filipino literature, theology, history, various branches of social sciences, and a community service component. The Ateneo follows the semester hour system common in American universities. Most classes are held below 40 students and student discussion is encouraged. Programs at the Loyola Schools are aimed at fostering student-centred learning. The Ateneo was one of the first schools in the Philippines to enact a Magna Carta for undergraduates.

Recognition and reputation

The Ateneo de Manila has been granted autonomous status by the Philippine Commission on Higher Education, granting it relative leeway in introducing new programs. It has been enjoying autonomous status since at least 2001.
CHED has also accredited a number of the Ateneo de Manila's departments and programs as Centers of Excellence, indicating the highest degree of instruction, research, and extension in the Philippines of their particular fields or courses, and Centers of Development, indicating "significant improvement" of instruction, research, and extension from the previous year. The Ateneo has Centers of Excellence in information technology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, English literature, philosophy, biology, psychology, sociology, business administration or management, and entrepreneurship. It has Centers of Development in environmental science, communication, electronic engineering, history, Philippine literature, and political science. The Loyola Heights campus also hosts three scientific research institutions: Philippine Institute of Pure and Applied Chemistry, National Chemistry Instrumentation Center, and the Manila Observatory.
The Legal Education Board has ranked the Ateneo Law School as the best performing private law school in the Philippines and the second-best overall, behind the University of the Philippines College of Law, as of 2018. Graduates of the Ateneo Law School have an average grade of 89.2 in the Philippine Bar Examination and the school has produced 23 topnotchers in history, most notably former Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee in 1940 and Supreme Court Associate Justice Arturo Brion in 1974. In 2018, the Ateneo Law School had the highest passing rate for first-time examinees in the Philippine Bar Examination at 88.76%.
The Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health was ranked the best performing medical school in the Philippines by the Professional Regulation Commission in 2019, as the school had a 100% passing rate in the Philippine Physician Licensure Examination out of 133 examinees.
The Ateneo grade school and high school divisions have both garnered the highest level of accreditation from the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities and the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines, making it one of the top schools in the country for primary and secondary education, as of 2017.

Research centers and auxiliary units

Some of the Ateneo de Manila's most active research hubs work in the fields of disaster risk reduction, prevention, and management; public education; human migration; and governance. The university houses several research centers, and has many links with industry partners, government agencies, and research networks. Some research centers, called auxiliary units, are established by the university board of trustees, while others are organized by individual schools or departments.
The Ateneo publishes the following academic journals: Kritika Kultura, Asian Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities, Budhi, , The Journal of Management for Global Sustainability, Landas, and Social Transformations: Journal of the Global South.

Networks and external partnerships

The Ateneo de Manila University is a member of the following networks and academic consortia:
;International
;Local
The Ateneo has grounded its vision and mission in the Jesuit educational tradition of engaging with the world at large, leading the university to be involved in civic activities. Social engagement is a key part of Ateneo education, integrated into the curricula of practically all university programs. Social entrepreneurship is also integrated into many of its academic programs.
The Ateneo's social projects include the Ateneo-Mangyan Project for Understanding and Development to help the Mangyan indigenous group from Mindoro, the Bigay Puso and the Christian Service and Involvement Program for grade school students, and the Damay Immersion and Tulong Dunong program for senior high school students. In college, social development is fostered by programs of the Office of Social Concern and Involvement, including house-builds with the poverty alleviation movement Gawad Kalinga and the Ateneo Labor Trials Program tied into junior philosophy classes. Student organizations and offices of the Loyola Schools also operate their own social involvement programs. At the Ateneo Professional Schools, programs and units like the Graduate School of Business' Mulat-Diwa, the Leaders for Health Program, and the Law School's Human Rights Center and Legal Aid programs aim to form leaders. Other Ateneo initiatives include Pathways to Higher Education to help the underprivileged youth and the Ateneo Center for Educational Development which conducts national teacher and principal training programs.
The centerpiece social program of the university is its university-wide social action program in partnership with Gawad Kalinga which has helped build communities and schools in Payatas, Quezon City, in many Nueva Ecija municipalities, and three villages in the Bicol Region. The Ateneo–Gawad Kalinga partnership has also driven Kalinga Luzon, a rehabilitation effort for the victims of Typhoon Nanmadol ; GK Youth–Ateneo, one of the largest and most active student social program of the Ateneo; Kalinga Leyte, an ongoing program which aims to provide long-term rehabilitation for the victims of the Southern Leyte landslide and Typhoon Haiyan, and ongoing reconstruction efforts for typhoon-stricken Bicol.
The Ugat Foundation, an apostolate for grassroots families, is also located at the Ateneo.

International collaboration

The Ateneo has international linkages with several universities, institutions, and organizations, particularly in Asia, Australasia, North and South America, and Europe. Through these cooperative efforts, the university hosts visiting faculty and research fellows from institutions abroad, and in turn, Ateneo faculty members also engage in teaching, research, and study in institutions abroad. International cooperation also includes active student exchange through Philippine immersion programs for a month or two for small groups of 15–18 students or full study programs wherein students from partner institutions abroad take regular courses.
Students of the Loyola Schools can also register for the Junior Term Abroad program, which allows them to spend a semester in one of Ateneo's partner schools for undergraduate studies.
Since 2008, the Global Leadership Program was started for students from three other Catholic Jesuit universities in East Asia aside from the Ateneo: Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan, Sogang University in South Korea, and Sophia University in Japan.
The Ateneo has partnered with several international institutions in offering certain degree programs. In 2006, the Ateneo partnered with the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou to establish a Confucius Institute. The institute has since offered Mandarin Chinese courses, a Masters in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language program, and a scholarship grant for students to study in Chinese colleges and universities. Since 2018, the Ateneo Department of Information Systems and Computer Science has partnered with the Queen Mary University of London in the UK to offer a double degree Master of Science in Innovation through Media Arts Technology and Master of Science in Media and Arts Technology. In 2019, the ventured with French culinary school Le Cordon Bleu to establish the Le Cordon Bleu Ateneo de Manila Institute at the Areté, which offers a Bachelor of Science in Restaurant Entrepreneurship that adheres to requirements from Le Cordon Bleu. The institute also offers Le Cordon Bleu's Diplôme de Cuisine, Diplôme de Pâtisserie, and Grand Diplôme professional degrees at the Center for Continuing Education at the Graduate School of Business. Other universities that the Ateneo has partnered with to offer joint master's degree programs are the École supérieure des sciences commerciales d'Angers in France for a Master in Management, Kyushu University in Japan for a Master of Laws, the Regis University in Denver for a Master of Business Administration, and the University of Sydney in Australia for a Master of Human Rights and Democratization.
The Ateneo collaborated with the Nippon Foundation and the University for Peace in Costa Rica to initiate the Asian Peacebuilders Scholarship program. Under the program, students train to become peacebuilding practitioners for a total of eight months at the Ateneo and nine months at UPEACE, eventually receiving a Master's Degree in Transdisciplinary and Social Development from the Ateneo Department of Political Science and a Master of Arts degree from UPEACE.

Libraries and museum

The Ateneo de Manila University has several libraries. The university's largest library is the Rizal Library, part of the Loyola Schools, located in the Loyola Heights campus. The Ateneo Professional Schools Library is housed in the Professional Schools building at the Rockwell campus. The basic education units each have their own libraries; the East Asian Pastoral Institute and the Loyola School of Theology, both located inside the Loyola Heights campus, also have their own. Libraries of other Jesuit universities in Naga, Zamboanga, Davao, and Cagayan de Oro are linked to the Ateneo de Manila's libraries.
The Rizal Library is divided into the Old Rizal Library and the New Rizal Library. The Old Rizal Library, which is known as the Special Collections Building, houses rare Filipiniana items including a permanent exhibit of José Rizal memorabilia, a collection of Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, the American Historical Collection containing materials related to the American colonial period, the Ateneo Library of Women's Writings, and other special collections and manuscripts by Filipino scholars, writers, and artists. The New Rizal Library, a five-storey building which opened in November 2009, houses the library's circulation section, the undergraduate and graduate reserve sections, the multimedia collection, the periodicals collection, the Japanese collection, online database access terminals, an information commons, and the Library's technical services facilities.
The Professional Schools Library holds one of the largest collections of materials in the fields of law, business, and government in the Philippines.

Ateneo Art Gallery

The Ateneo Art Gallery is housed in the Arts Wing of the Areté. The gallery is the first museum of modern art in the Philippines, and is the only museum in the country dedicated to the collection, display, and interpretation of Philippine modern art. The heart of its collection is a large selection of post-war art donated to the university by Fernando Zóbel de Ayala.

University Archives

The University Archives are housed in the Rizal Library annex building. Since 1958, it has served as the central repository of non-current records of the administrative offices, academic departments, and student organizations. Among its collections are papers and documents from key university people, relics and personal effects of alumni, some archived publications, theses, and dissertations, as well as other materials such as maps, photographs, and art work.

Administration and accreditation

The Ateneo de Manila University is governed by a board of trustees currently chaired by Bernadine T. Siy. A central administration, led by President of the Ateneo de Manila University Roberto Yap, oversees key initiatives related to academics, international programs, university development and alumni relations, personnel, security, and other university-wide concerns. Yap succeeded Jose Ramon Villarin, on August 1, 2020.
For purposes of administration, the Ateneo's schools are grouped into three units: Basic Education, Loyola Schools, and Professional Schools. Each unit is lead by a vice president. Each basic education school is led by a principal and a headmaster ; meanwhile, the individual schools under the Loyola Schools and the Professional Schools are led by deans, who in turn oversee department chairs and program directors.
There are also designated vice presidents for Social Development ; University and Global Relations ; Finance ; and Administration & Human Resources.
In 2005, the academic programs of the Loyola Schools have been granted a Level IV accreditation—the highest possible level—from the Commission on Higher Education through the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines and the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities. In 2011 it was also granted Institutional Accreditation by the same body, the first time that both citations were awarded to a university simultaneously. The Ateneo de Manila is one of few universities in the country granted autonomous status by CHED, which likewise recognizes a number of the university's programs and departments as Centers of Excellence and Centers of Development. The grade school and high school divisions both have the highest level of accreditation from PAASCU and FAAP.

Student life

Residence halls

While the majority of its students live in Metro Manila, the university has four on-campus dormitories for college students: Cervini Hall, Eliazo Hall, University Dormitory, and the International Residence Hall. Located near the Loyola Schools, the Cervini Hall and Eliazo Hall are the on-campus dormitories primarily aimed for freshmen and varsity students of the Ateneo de Manila University. Cervini Hall accommodates approximately two hundred male students, and neighboring Eliazo Hall houses one hundred and sixty female students. The University Dormitory, completed in 2008, houses six hundred students. Other dormitories which are also open to college and graduate school students are those of the Institute of Social Order, Arrupe International Residence, and the East Asian Pastoral Institute. Those who desire to live off-campus reside in nearby accredited dormitories and condominiums along or near Katipunan Avenue, such as Oracle Residences, FBR Building, Xanland Plaza, One Burgundy Plaza, Prince David Condominium, and Berkeley Residences, sharing study and living areas with students from the University of the Philippines Diliman and Miriam College.
Most dorm activities and support services are organized and managed by the residents themselves through the Ateneo Resident Students Association and its working committees. These include the orientation for new and freshmen dormers; academic tutorials, group study and book lending; Sunday masses, evening prayer, and recollections; sportsfests, a variety show, and open houses. ARSA is also active in opportunities for social awareness and involvement like disaster relief operations, socio-political mobilizations, and social education.

Student organizations

There are currently over 50 accredited college student organizations in the Loyola Schools. Among these is the Ateneo Catechetical Instruction League, founded in 1907, the oldest student organization in the Ateneo and one of the oldest in the Philippines.
The Ateneo College Glee Club is the oldest extant university chorale in the Philippines. ACGC has participated in numerous international choral and choir competitions including the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing.
The Ateneo Debate Society, the undergraduate debate organization of Ateneo, is the highest-ranking debate team in the Philippines and Asia, and often in the top 10 of the World University Debate Rankings since the mid-2000s, peaking at no. 7 in 2012. It is currently in 13th place.
Apart from other special interest organizations, home organizations for respective undergraduate courses are also widespread among the Loyola Schools. Examples of such are Ateneo Psyche, originally intended for students of AB Psychology and BS Psychology but now accepting students from all courses, and Ateneo Management Association, which only accepts students of BS Management and BS Management-Honors.
The Ateneo de Manila High School's Dulaang Sibol, which began as the Ateneo High School Dramatics Society in 1955, is the oldest existing theater group in the Philippines.

Notable alumni

Graduates of Ateneo de Manila include two Ramon Magsaysay awardees; and José Rizal, considered the national hero of the Philippines. Five Presidents of the Philippines, namely Benigno Aquino III, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Joseph Estrada, Fidel Ramos, and Corazon Aquino are alumni or have ties with the university. Ateneo has also been associated with five Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, one National Scientist of the Philippines, four National Artists of the Philippines, and two international beauty pageant winners. Aside from Rizal, several other leaders of the Propaganda Movement during the Philippine Revolution against Spain and the United States, including Juan Luna, Juan Araneta, and Gregorio del Pilar, have graduated from the university. Many of the university's alumni have been highly influential in art, design, and literature, business, civil society, entertainment, government and politics, law, media and entertainment, science and technology, and sports in the country and in the world.