Visayas State University (VSU; fil, Pamantasang Pampamahalaan ng Visayas) is a university located in the city of

Baybay Baybay (IPA: aɪ'baɪ, officially the City of Baybay ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Baybay; war, Syudad han Baybay), is a 1st class component city in the province of Leyte, Philippines. It has a population of 111,848 people. With an area of , it is the ...

, province of

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. The five-campus VSU has eight colleges, three institutes and one school. Located in the main campus are the College of Veterinary Medicine, College of Engineering and Technology, College of Education, College of Forestry and Environmental Science, College of Arts and Science, College of Nursing, College of Management and Economics, College of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Institute of Strategic Research and Development Studies, Institute of Tropical Ecology and Environmental Management, Institute of Human Kinetics, and the Graduate School and Special Programs. Visayas State University is acknowledged by the Philippine Department of Tourism as a tourist destination for its diverse flora and fauna bounding the mainland and sea from side to side. With Mount Pangasugan and the

Camotes Sea The Camotes Sea is a small sea within the Philippine archipelago, situated between the Central Visayan and the Eastern Visayan regions. It separates Cebu from Leyte hence is bordered by Cebu to the west, Leyte to the east and north, and Bohol ...

as VSU's backdrop. VSU administration promotes the school as a "Resort University" for having resorts, seafront suites, cottages, and providing services like bungalows catering to visitors and tourists coming over to the university.

History

The institution was founded as Baybay Agricultural School on June 2, 1924. In 1934, it was renamed as Baybay Agricultural High School and in 1938 was named Baybay National Agricultural School (BNAS) through Commonwealth Act No. 313. BNAS was renamed Visayas Agricultural College on June 19, 1960. Even though the institution offered higher education, it still continued to offer secondary education as Experimental Rural High School. It was renamed again to Visayas State College of Agriculture (ViSCA) on May 24, 1974. The university also offered elementary education through ViSCA Foundation Elementary School (VFES). In 1999, the school was one of four schools combined into a five-campus system. ViSCA became Leyte State University on August 11, 2001. The promulgation of Republic Act No. 9437 dated April 27, 2007 converted the then LSU into Visayas State University (VSU). The university also offered elementary and secondary education through ViSCA Foundation Elementary School (VFES) and VSU Laboratory High School (VSU-LHS) respectively. In 2018, The board of directors voted to rename VSU-LHS into VSU Integrated High School (VSU-IHS).

Campuses

* Tolosa campus ** College of Fisheries *

Isabel Isabel is a female name of Spanish origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of '' Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheva''), Arising in the 12th century, it became popul ...

campus ** College of Industrial Technology * Alangalang campus ** College of Environmental and Agricultural Technology * Villaba campus ** College of Education and Agricultural Technology

Programs

The university specializes in agricultural research and education, including work in

jatropha ''Jatropha'' is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. The name is derived from the Greek words ἰατρός (''iatros''), meaning "physician", and τροφή (''trophe''), meaning "nutrition", hence the common name ...

propagation for the production of biofuel and development of a dwarf macapuno coconut and root-crops, particularly, sweet potato, cassava and yam. The university hosts a program on rain forestation. Programs are available in Agro-Industry, Engineering, Information Technology, Hospitality Management, Tropical Ecology, Veterinary Medicine, Forestry, Fishery, and Food Science and Technology. The 1,099-hectare campus hosts 193 buildings composed of academic departments, research and trainings centers, staff and student housing facilities and other structures. The main campus offers open university system for its distance education program. Its external campuses which are located in the different parts of Leyte are the College of Fisheries (VSU-Tolosa Campus), College of Industrial Technology (VSU-Isabel Campus), College of Environmental and Agricultural Technology (VSU-Alangalang Campus), College of Education and Agricultural Technology (VSU-Villaba Campus).

Mount Pangasugan research

VSU is located by one of the last remaining rainforests in the Philippines. A study by Visayas State University (VSU) in Baybay City, Leyte found many animal species listed by the

World Conservation Union The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

in the Red List of Threatened Animals (

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

), including the

Philippine tarsier The Philippine tarsier (''Carlito syrichta''), known locally as ''mawumag'' in Cebuano and other Visayan languages, and ''magô'' in Waray, is a species of tarsier endemic to the Philippines. It is found in the southeastern part of the archi ...

, Philippine flying fox, Fischer's pygmy fruit bat. New records of the

microbat Microbats constitute the suborder Microchiroptera within the order Chiroptera ( bats). Bats have long been differentiated into Megachiroptera (megabats) and Microchiroptera, based on their size, the use of echolocation by the Microchiroptera an ...

('' Hipposideros obscurus''), with a length of 5.5 centimeters and body weight of 10 grams, a type of skink ('' Tropidophorus grayi''), and two new species of the

Gobiidae Gobiidae or gobies is a family of bony fish in the order Gobiiformes, one of the largest fish families comprising more than 2,000 species in more than 200 genera. Most of gobiid fish are relatively small, typically less than in length, and the ...

fishes ('' Stiphodon olivaceus'' and '' Stiphodon surrufus'') were also found by the VSU survey. VSU’s Natural History Museum collected 43,000

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...

specimens from 377

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...

and 500 genera on Mt. Pangasugan. A new species of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowerin ...

('' Dendrobium milaniae'') and a

tiger beetle Tiger beetles are a family of beetles, Cicindelidae, known for their aggressive predatory habits and running speed. The fastest known species of tiger beetle, ''Rivacindela hudsoni'', can run at a speed of , or about 125 body lengths per second. ...

('' Thopeutica milaniae'') were named in honor of past VSU president Dr. Paciencia Po-Milan, a renowned

ecologist Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

. Other endemic species include the eagle-owl,

Philippine hawk-eagle The Philippine hawk-eagle or north Philippine hawk-eagle (''Nisaetus philippensis''), earlier treated under ''Spizaetus'', is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Many taxonomists consider the Pinsker's hawk-eagle, a former subsp ...

rufous-lored kingfisher Winchell's kingfisher (''Todiramphus winchelli'') or the rufous-lored kingfisher, is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae, the kingfishers. It is endemic to the Philippines, its natural habitat being lowland forests. It is threatened by ...

Philippine leafbird The Philippine leafbird (''Chloropsis flavipennis'') is a species of bird in the family Chloropseidae. It is endemic to the Philippines. It is found in the islands of Mindanao, Leyte, and Cebu. Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland fore ...

and miniature tit-babbler and flying lemur. The Federal Republic of Germany (through the ViSCA-GTZ Applied Tropical EcologyProgranl, ViSCA, Baybay, Leyte, Philippines International) funded the VSU study to collect, identify, describe and document the existing species of aroids (

Araceae The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe (or leaf-like bract). A ...

) and

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

in Mt. Pangasugan. 25 species of aroids representing 12 genera were documented at elevations of up to 350 m ASL. Classified as erect ground dwellers or climbers, the most dominant aroid belong to '' Pothos'' and ''

Epipremnum ''Epipremnum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family (biology), family Araceae, found in tropics, tropical forests from China, the Himalayas, and Southeast Asia to Australia the western Pacific. They are evergreen perennial plant, perennia ...

''. The orchid species represent 16 genera, with the most dominant belonging to ''

Phalaenopsis ''Phalaenopsis'' (), also known as moth orchids, is a genus of about seventy species of plants in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus are monopodial epiphytes or lithophytes with long, coarse roots, short, leafy stems and long-lasti ...

''. The Herpetofauna ( herps) of Anibong, Jordan, Mt. Pangasugan Range, Leyte is a

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

to endemic species, which is so diverse and slightly distributed. The

Mindanao State University Mindanao State University, commonly referred to as MSU Main, is a regional state, coeducational, research higher education institution in the city of Marawi, Philippines. Founded in 1961, it is the flagship and the largest campus of the Mindana ...

-Iligan Institute of Technology identified 17 herpetofaunal species belonging to 6 families ( Ranidae,

Rhacophoridae The Rhacophoridae are a family of frogs that occur in tropical sub-Saharan Africa, South India and Sri Lanka, Japan, northeastern India to eastern China and Taiwan, south through the Philippines and Greater Sundas, and Sulawesi. They are co ...

, Agamidae, Scincidae, Colubridae,

Viperidae The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), hinged fangs th ...

), of which eight (47%) are endemics (

Endemism Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

). These endemic species include '' Limnonectes magnus'', '' Platymantis corrugatus'', ''

Platymantis dorsalis ''Platymantis dorsalis'' (Dumeril's wrinkled ground frog or common forest frog) is a species of frog in the family Ceratobatrachidae. It is endemic to the northern and central Philippines. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lo ...

'', '' Brachymeles samarensis'', '' Draco lineatus'', '' Sphenomorphus jagori'', '' Rhabdophis lineata'' and '' Trimeresurus flavomaculatus''. '' Limnonectes magnus'' is already in the near-threatened category.The Herpetofauna of Anibong, Jordan, Mt. Pangasugan Range, Leyte: A Preliminary Survey
/ref>

References

{{Coord, 10.744, 124.792, display=title Education in Baybay State universities and colleges in the Philippines Universities and colleges in Leyte (province)

History

Campuses

Programs

Mount Pangasugan research

See also

References