(JAN. 7)—Twenty-three Centers of Excellence (COEs) declared by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) are at UP Diliman.

CHED identified 137 COEs in both public and private institutions through Memorandum Order No. 38, Series of 2015 issued on Dec. 23, 2015.

The CHED defines a COE as “…a department within a higher education institution, which continuously demonstrates excellent performance in the areas of instruction, research and publication, extension and linkages and institutional qualifications.” They are envisioned “to become centers of graduate education and research in their fields of strength.”

The College of Science has the highest number of COEs with eight, namely Biology, Cell and Molecular Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Geology, Marine Science, Mathematics and Physics.

The College of Social Sciences and Philosophy comes in second with five COEs, namely Anthropology, Foreign Language, History, Political Science and Psychology.

The College of Mass Communication has three COEs in three of its four departments, namely Broadcasting, Communication and Journalism.

The Colleges of Engineering (Chemical Engineering and Geodetic Engineering) and Arts and Letters (English and Literature) each has two COEs.

The School of Library and Information Studies (Library and Information Science), College of Social Work and Community Development (Social Work) and the School of Statistics (Statistics) are each home to one COE.

The designation of the abovementioned COEs and CODs is valid for three years effective Jan. 1, 2016 to Dec. 31, 2018 or until sooner terminated, revoked or cancelled.

The memorandum states that, “…the designated COEs may avail of financial assistance on a project proposal bases geared towards the development or improvement of the programs, particularly cutting-edge technology in the different disciplines….”

In September 2014, UPD had 21 COEs covering various academic fields.

This 2016 UPD has new COEs in the fields of Cell and Molecular Biology, Chemical Engineering, Environmental Science, Geodetic Engineering, History, Library and Information Science and Social Work.