Bagac History

Hits: 16159

To furtherance its efforts to make quality but cheap education accessible to the youth of Bataan, BPSU established an Extension Campus right at the heart of the historic Bagac town on June 10, 2008.

Tagged as the ‘Campus of Courage and Wisdom’ (derived from the town’s patron, St. Catherine of Alexandria, the saint of the courageous and of the wise), its creation spared the youth not just in Bagac, but also in the neighboring town of Morong, and some villages in Pilar and City of Balanga (Pantingan and Cabog-Cabog) from the hassles of travelling to the city just to pursue college education.

Offering undergraduate programs such as BS Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM), BS Entrepreneurship, *BS Nursing, and *BS Engineering (*first two-years only), BPSU-Bagac had 115 enrollees (first semester, 2008–2009), eight faculty members, and three administrative staffers housed in a four-room humble facility within Bagac (Central) Elementary School during its first year of operation.

Due to its location, BPSU-Bagac is being eyed to be the University’s center for HRM and Tourism training to cater the manpower needs of the now booming resort, hotel, and leisure-recreational businesses in the western and southern parts of Bataan, and in the nearby Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

Despite of meager resources and facilities, BPSU-Bagac was able to provide a fluid and active atmosphere necessary for well-rounded student development. A number of student organizations inclined on the arts were established to create a dynamic student culture. In 2009, several students from Extension Campus were able to bag citations in local and regional literary and journalism competitions.
June 2010 was a marked date for the Extension Campus as it was transferred to a newly constructed three-storey building adjacent to the National Power Corporation Resort Village. During this time as well, Bachelor in Elementary Education (BEEd) was offered because of insistent demand from the local community.

In 2011, the enrollment in Bagac Campus grew steadily due to the offering of BEEd, and the influx of enrollees coming from Morong. As of first semester, academic year 2011–2012, Bagac Campus has 316 students, 11 faculty members, five staff members under the leadership of Dr. Rolliver M. Baciles (2008–present), a native Bagake?o and concurrently the Dean of BPSU’s College of Education.

Realizing the importance of the preservation of the local culture and history, Bagac Campus recently initiated a project named ‘Center for Bagac Studies’. The project aims to propagate historical knowledge by discovering, preserving, and perpetuating facts and artifacts concerned with the history of Bagac. As part of the effort, a mini-museum was put up within the Extension Campus’ Library.  The museum contains a number of artifacts, documents, and photographs mostly coming from post- World War II era.

To boost the project, Bagac Campus is eyeing a possible tie-up with the Bagac Municipal Government. A proposal has already been drafted by the BPSU-Bagac faculty members to create a ‘Bagac Historical and Cultural Committee (BHCC)’ that will oversee the collection of historical and cultural artifacts, relics, manuscripts,  documents, books, studies, recordings, interviews, old photographs and memorabilia, and articles from all sources available. Under the drafted proposal, the BHCC will be composed representatives from the Extension Campus and the Local Government, and will be headed by Dr. Baciles. National Historical Institute mandates on creating such kind of Commission were considered in drafting the proposal.

With its steady enrollment growth, dynamic culture, and accomplishments for a short span of time, BPSU-Bagac looks to becoming a full-fledged Satellite Campus in the very near future.

Address: Bagumbayan, Bagac, Bataan 2107