Mindanao State University – General Santos City is a state university based in General Santos City, South Cotabato, Philippines. The Mindanao State University–General Santos was created six years after the establishment of the Mindanao State University Main Campus Marawi City on September 1, 1961. It is one of the state universities of the Philippines with the aim of providing education for the different strategic locations across the island of Mindanao. It is a member of the Mindanao State University System. The MSU is the only state university in the Philippines with the special mandate of integrating the cultural communities in Mindanao into the mainstream of the nation's socio-cultural and political life by providing them with opportunities for quality and relevant public education for their self-development and providing trained manpower skills and technical know-how for the economic development of the region.
History
Starting as a Community High School in 1967, MSU-GSC grew into a junior college in 1971, but was then just limited to a two-year collegiate General Education Program. With a strong clamor from the studentry and the community and all-out support from its constituents for the offering of complete degree programs, the Board of Regents was prompted to study the potential of the College for academic expansion especially when the "feeder" concept was challenged. By virtue of BOR Resolution No. 822, MSU Community College became a full-fledged unit and integral part of the MSU System. The campus underwent series of transfers as part of its continuing growth and expansion. As a Community High School, it was a "squatter" at an area inside the Dadiangas West Elementary School campus. Engr. Abedin Limpao Osop, the first Chancellor of the campus was able to acquire a 3.3-hectare lot as a donation from city government. It gave the impetus for the offering of various College degree programs. Later, the acquisition of a 156-hectare area in Tambler enabled MSU-GSC to strengthen its functions in instruction research and extension, subsequently affirming the significant role it plays within its areas of coverage. Concrete proofs of this are the establishment of its Research and Development Center & Office of Extension Services, and in the growth of its various colleges: Agriculture, Fisheries, Business Administration & Accountancy, Engineering, Education, Natural Sciences & Mathematics, Social Science and Humanities and its College of Law. Moreover, it has also opened two advanced education degree programs, the Master in Public Administration and Master of Arts in Education as a response to a popular demand articulated by Socsksargen public administrators and academicians. The university recently became a new member of the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines with its programs in Bachelor of Science in Elementary and Secondary Education in candidate status for accreditation as of December 31, 2014.
