Ateneo de Manila University

The Ateneo de Manila University began in 1859 when Spanish Jesuits established the Escuela Municipal de Manila, a public primary school established in Intramuros for the city of Manila. However, the educational tradition of the Ateneo embraces the much older history of the Jesuits as a teaching order in the Philippines.
The first Spanish Jesuits arrived in the country in 1581. While primarily missionaries, they were also custodians of the ratio studiorum, the system of Jesuit education formulated about 1559. In 1590, they founded one of the first colleges in the Philippines, the Colegio de Manila (also known as the Colegio Seminario de San Ignacio) under the leadership of Antonio Sedeño, S.J. The school formally opened in 1595.
In 1621, Pope Gregory XV, through the archbishop of Manila, authorized the San Ignacio to confer degrees in theology and the arts. Two years later, King Philip IV of Spain confirmed this authorization, making the school a royal and a pontifical university, the very first university in the Philippines and in Asia.