The Adventist University of the Philippines was established by Seventh-day Adventist Church missionaries. In 1915, A. G. Daniels visited the Philippine Islands and laid plans for the organization of an academic institution. Daniels was followed by L. V. Finster who reported that in 1916, I. A. Steinel and O. F. Sevrens and their families had arrived to supervise the building of the Philippine Seventh-day Adventist Academy on a five-acre land located along Calle Luna in Pasay then part of the province of Rizal. The school formally opened on June 12, 1917, with 24 boys and 12 girls. The school building had classrooms on the first floor and a dormitory for the boys on the second floor. The girls stayed in an old mixed-material house which already stood on the land. In 1925, at the Spring Council of the Far Eastern Division, it was voted that the academy be authorized to carry fourteen grades, adding one grade each year towards 1927, and that the name be changed to Philippine Junior College. Elder W. B. Amundsen was elected principal in 1927 until 1931. At the end of 1927, 26 hectares of land was purchased in Baesa, Caloocan, then part of the Rizal province, to accommodate the increasing enrollment. Prof. L. M. Stump, president of the college in 1931 directed the construction of the buildings. In 1932 the school moved to Baesa Campus. In that same year FED permitted the junior college’s elevation to a senior one naming it Philippine Union College. The school song, “Shine on Forever” was composed in 1933. The growing enrollment inspired the administration to purchase a bigger property which comprises 165 hectares of land located at Putting Kahoy, Silang, in the province of Cavite in 1972. 1979 saw the first batch of freshmen and sophomore students at this new campus and in 1981, with the movement of the juniors and seniors from Baesa, the campus transfer was completed. On August 1, 1996, in accordance with Republic Act No. 7722 and by the virtue of Resolution No. 132-96, Series of 1996, the Commission on Higher Education granted PUC University Status entailing the change of the school’s name from Philippine Union College to Adventist University of the Philippines. The university acquired Deregulated Status on October 22, 2001, and was awarded Autonomous Status on October 27, 2003. Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and Nursing Programs are accredited Level IV; Accountancy, Master in Business Administration and Master of Arts in Education Programs are accredited Level IV; PhD Education is accredited Level 3 by the Association of Christian Schools, Colleges and Universities Accrediting Agency, Inc.. AUP is accredited as a Level IV institution by the United States-based Accrediting Association of Seventh-day Adventist Schools, Colleges and Universities.”
