University of the Philippines College of Engineering


The University of the Philippines Diliman 'College of Engineering' is a degree-granting unit of the University of the Philippines Diliman specializing in chemical, civil, computer, electrical, electronic, geodetic, industrial, materials, mechanical, metallurgical, and mining engineering.
It is the largest degree-granting unit in the UP System in terms of student population and is also known formally as UP COE, COE, and informally as Engg.
The college of Engineering is composed of eight departments, three of which are housed in the historic Melchor Hall along Osmeña Avenue in the U.P. Diliman campus. These are the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Geodetic Engineering, and the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research.
The Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute has its own pair of buildings along Velázquez Street facing the entrance to the National Science Complex, while the Department of Computer Science moved into their own building beside the EEEI building in early 2007. Since then, the Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering, the Department of Chemical Engineering, and the Institute of Civil Engineering have also moved into their own respective buildings at the Engineering Complex, with each building facing C.P. Garcia Avenue.
The College Library is located in two different buildings: one in the Melchor Hall and another in the building that houses the DCS.
The college is the college of engineering in the Philippines with the most CHED Centers of Excellence at eleven. All of its degree-granting departments have been recognized as a Center of Excellence.

History

Establishment

The University of the Philippines was founded on June 18, 1908. The College of Engineering is the fifth college unit to be established. The university's board of regents, in a resolution passed on June 3, 1910, appointed Mr. W.J. Colbert as acting dean of the college. His appointment was set to effect on June 13, 1910, thereby creating the College of Engineering. The classes were held at a two-story building, the O’brien residence, at the corner of Isaac Peral and Florida streets in Ermita, Manila. The O’Brien house was formally turned over to the college in September 1910, and became known as the “College of Engineering.” Later on, as the Engineering Building and shops were constructed along the Florida side of the U.P. Campus in Ermita, that building became the Home Economics Building of the College of Education.
The plans for the construction of a three-story reinforced concrete Engineering Building were drafted starting 1927, for which P210,000 was appropriated. The design of the building was under the supervision and guidance of Dean Hyde. Criteria for earthquake resistance were incorporated in the design. It was of simple architecture with a portico at the front facing Florida Street. The contract for the construction was awarded on October 22, 1929. The building was occupied in May 1930.

World War II

Then the tides of war in the Pacific came in December 1941 and thereby interrupted the normal operations of the college. When the Japanese forces entered Manila in January 1942, they occupied the college buildings. It was in January 1943 that classes were resumed. During the war years, engineering classes were conducted in the Pharmacy building on Herran street. Offices of the faculty members where in the shacks behind the College of Medicine building. Once more classes were interrupted. The Battle of Manila practically demolished all the university buildings in the Padre Faura campus which had been occupied by the Japanese army forces. The college and few other units of the university reopened in August 1945 under very trying conditions on account of the destruction of the engineering building, shops and laboratories. Classes were held at the Cancer Institute Building facing Padre Faura Street.
The task of rehabilitating the college started immediately after. Repair work of the Engineering Building along Calle Florida was started in 1946 and was reoccupied in August 1946.

Postwar move to the Diliman campus

In the new Diliman Campus, despite the fact that most students commuted from Manila, the enrollment in the university steadily increased. The university, however, started the huge construction program of college building, laboratories, dormitories and other facilities. The construction of the engineering building on the north side of the campus was begun in 1949 along with other buildings.
In 1951 the college moved into the new four-story building along Osmeña Avenue, a mirror image of the Liberal Arts Building across the wide, dampy University Quadrangle.
During the 1963 U.P. Alumni Engineers Homecoming, the Engineering Building was named Melchor Hall in honor of the late Col. Alejandro Melchor. He was an engineering alumnus, former member of the engineering faculty and the U.P. Board of Regents, Secretary of National Defense in the Philippine Cabinet in exile during World War II, and a researcher whose studies on pontoon bridges contributed significantly in winning the war for the Allied Forces. Dedication ceremonies were held, and a plaque was unveiled at the portico of the edifice with President Romulo as guest speaker and the family of Alejandro Melchor present.

Martial law

Many students, faculty, and alumni of the UP College of Engineering were deeply affected when President Ferdinand Marcos announced on September 23, 1972 that he had placed the entirety of the Philippines under Martial Law. Prof. Dominador Ilio was arrested at his home in UP campus because they could not find his son, Dominador Jr. He was only released from Camp Crame a month later, once his son had been captured. Student Reynaldo Vea, who would later become Dean of the college, was likewise arrested as a spokesman of the Samahan ng Demokratikong Kabataan.
Eleven alumni of the UP College of Engineering would later be recognized as either martyrs or heroes of the fight against authoritarianism, by having their names etched at the Wall of Remembrance at the Philippines' Bantayog ng mga Bayani.
Dubbed the "Heroes of Melchor" hall, this group includes:

Melchor Hall

Melchor Hall, the current main building of the University of the Philippines Diliman College of Engineering, is the work of Architect Cesar Concio. His other notable works are the Church of the Risen Lord inside the UP campus, the Palma Hall, the Insular Life building and the Children's Hospital, among others.
The building is heavily influenced by the Bauhaus school of design and the challenge of building design without frills. It is a long horizontal, five-story reinforced concrete building designed in planar forms tempered with Filipino design expression. Internal spaces flow rather than being rigidly boxed.
Melchor Hall is a symmetrical structure which is divided into two wings by an imposing central section. This large rectangular three-story-high portal serves as the main entrance of the building. An equally imposing concrete stairway terminates at the portal, flanked by 2 plain columns that soar three stories high.
Each wing of the structure features continuous open balconies on each floor which serve as single-loaded corridors to the classrooms. The architectural design creates well-ventilated, naturally lighted classrooms. Stairs that service the five floors are wide with comfortable treads and risers. Structural members are in all honesty defined on both the exterior and interior of the building. There is a grid of discreet sun baffles at the west side of the entrance hall.

Academic departments

Department of Chemical Engineering

The Department of Chemical Engineering offers undergraduate and graduate programs leading to the degree of chemical engineering. The department was established in 1956 and has an overall 90% passing rate in the licensure examinations held in the Philippines. Furthermore, the department contributes about 10% to 60% of the total number of new chemical engineers in the Philippines every year.
The department offers the following degrees:
The Institute of Civil Engineering offers undergraduate and graduate programs leading to the degree of civil engineering. The oldest of the college's departments, the institute was established as a department in 1910. In 1915, the first graduates of civil engineering were produced. In 2008, the department was elevated into an institute, when its student population gradually expanded. Civil engineering graduates from the college represents only 1–2% of civil engineering output of the Philippines each year.
The institute offers the following degrees:
The Department of Computer Science offers undergraduate and graduate programs leading to the degree of computer science. The department started way back in the 1970s when the now defunct Department of Engineering Sciences, Department of Electrical Engineering and Department of Mathematics of the College of Science instituted the Master of Engineering in Computer Science program. The suspension of MEngg CS in the 1980s led to the creation of the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science program. In 1988, the Board of Regents approved the creation of the Department of Engineering and Computer Sciences. In 1991, however, DECS was split into the Department of Engineering Sciences and the Department of Computer Science.
The department offers the following programs: