University of St. La Salle

The University of St. La Salle (USLS) is a Catholic private research university run by the De La Salle Brothers, located in La Salle Avenue, Bacolod, Negros Occidental, Philippines. Established in 1952 as La Salle College - Bacolod, it is the second oldest campus founded by the congregation in the country (first and oldest outside of Manila). The university is a member of De La Salle Philippines, a network established in 2006 comprising 16 Lasallian educational institutions in the Philippine islands. The university offers preschool, elementary, secondary (junior & senior high), undergraduate, and graduate programs. It has seven colleges namely: Business and Accountancy, Engineering and Technology, Arts and Sciences, Education, Nursing, Law, and Medicine.
USLS was founded in 1952 by Br. Dennis Ruhland FSC, Br. Hugh Wester FSC, and Br. V. Felix Masson FSC. La Salle College-Bacolod opened with 175 male students from Prep to Grade 5, under seven faculty members. The school building was unimpressive, built amidst sprawling muddy grounds and bordered by cane fields of adjoining lands.
In the 1960s, La Salle College-Bacolod expanded to provide College-level education. This was made possible through donations by alumni, parents and benefactors. The school became co-educational in 1966.
On July 5, 1988, La Salle College-Bacolod was formally elevated to university status and named University of St. La Salle during rites attended by then secretary of education Lourdes Quisumbing.
It played host to the beach volleyball and boxing events during the 2005 Southeast Asian Games.
The school's 10-hectare main campus in La Salle Avenue houses the university's college and graduate school units. The USLS Health Sciences Campus, located at Lacson St., is an additional facility for students under its Nursing and Medicine program. Its other campus, the 55-hectare Granada Campus, is home to the Agribusiness Farm and the Science Ecological Park, which caters to its Agribusiness students.
On October 7, 2024, the USLS unveiled its expansion in Pavia, Iloilo through a partnership with Property Company of Friends, Inc. (Profriends).
The Liceo–De La Salle Senior High School is located within the USLS La Salle Avenue (main) campus and offers grades 11 and 12. The senior high school program started in 2016 in compliance with the K-12 program of the national government.
The university allotted PHP200 million for the construction of a new campus for the Integrated School in Brgy. Mandalagan with lot donated by the Alunan family. The original Integrated School in the Montelibano campus, which had about 2,000 I.S. students, was already congested. The new campus features two four-storey buildings and can accommodate up to 4,000 students. Construction of the first phase was completed in 2015.
As a Catholic University, the university's patron saint is St. John Baptist de La Salle, a French priest, educational reformer, and founder of an international educational movement who spent over forty years of his life to educate poor children.
USLS offers preschool, elementary, secondary, undergraduate and graduate level programs. La Salle offers academic programs under Business, Law, the Social Sciences, Psychology, Medicine, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Nursing, Education, and Hospitality Management. La Salle has seven Academic colleges, namely College of Nursing, College of Arts and Sciences, Yu An Log College of Business and Accountancy, College of Education, College of Law, College of Engineering and Technology, and College of Medicine.