BACOLOD CITY – A university based in Sampaloc, Manila recently opened its first campus in the Visayas in this city.

NATIONAL University on June 15 opened its first campus outside Manila in Bacolod City. (Glazyl Masculino)
National University launched its first campus outside Luzon at the main atrium of SM City Bacolod on Saturday, June 15.
The opening was graced by the NU Pep Squad and the school mascot.
NU Bacolod Executive and Academic Director Ryan Joy Dizon said this city is a good step in the long-term expansion of the school as it is ready in terms of area and location.
“With some considerations, we see Bacolod as a very viable and promising prospect with all the research and market study we did,” Dizon said. “If there could be some differences among other prospects in Visayas and Mindanao, it’s very slim,” she added.
Dizon said that the existence of NU here would be able to give options to parents and students. “Our education is very accessible and we want to offer and share it to everyone as long as their willing because it’s affordable,” she added.
Dizon said they are overwhelmed by the number of enrollees here and even outside this city. Thus, she is optimistic that they could reach their target by the first year of their operations despite the limited courses that they have.
Nicholerose Alit is the first enrollee of NU Bacolod, taking up Bachelor of Science in Psychology.
NU Bacolod is accepting senior high and college students and initially offered four courses – BS in Psychology, BS in Accountancy, BS in Computer Science, and BS in Tourism Management.
Dizon said they chose these courses after conducting a market study on how they can contribute to the need in an area. “We know that we are very short of accountants here and another factor would be that some of these courses are existing programs in the Manila campus,” she added.
She said that they want to bring the best practices that NU are doing and good at. “The idea is just to duplicate. NU is one system since we have already tried and implementing it several times. At least, we really know how to implement it in such a way it could satisfy our students’ needs,” she added.
Dizon said that all faculty members are from this city.
The building is an eight-story structure within the vicinity of SM City Bacolod with parking on the second to fifth floors. The school is on the sixth to eighth floors.
Dizon said enrollment is ongoing and classes start on August 5 and the NU Bacolod inauguration is tentatively scheduled in September.