ILOILO CITY – Guimaras now has a university as it marked its 40th founding year.
The Guimaras provincial government announced the university status Tuesday, June 7 of the Guimaras State College (GSC) which is now known as the Guimaras State University (GSU). The university status was achieved after a team conducted validation last February.
GSU was created via Republic Act (RA) No. 11335 authored by Guimaras Rep. Ma. Lucille Nava.
The GSU gives residents of the five towns of Guimaras a better option in pursuing a college education closer to home instead in Iloilo City.
The GSU was initially established as the Buenavista Vocational School (BVS) in Buenavista, where its main campus is located. It was created in 1964 by RA No. 3933 authored by then Iloilo Rep. Rodolfo Ganzon when Guimaras was still a sub-province of Iloilo. From initial vocational courses, it started offering post-secondary courses in 1980.
When Guimaras became an independent province in 1992, the Buenavista Municipal Council passed a resolution requesting the conversion of BVS to Guimaras Polytechnic College (GPC).
Two years later in 1994, then Iloilo Rep. Alberto Lopez submitted a house bill in Congress. By 1995, President Fidel Ramos signed RA 7944 that paved the way for the GPC.
In 2001, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed RA 9138 which created the GSC. Rep. Emily Lopez filed a bill creating the GSC which combined the then GPC in Buenavista and the then extension campus Western Visayas College of Science and Technology (WVCST) in Jordan.