page_title: Colegio de San Ildefonso
section_title: Link to the University of San Carlos
hierarchical_section_title: Colegio de San Ildefonso / Link to the University of San Carlos
caption_attribution_description: English: University of San Carlos Downtown Campus (formerly Main Campus) at P. del Rosario St., Cebu City
context_page_description: The Colegio de San Ildefonso was a college situated in Cebu City in the then Spanish Captaincy General of the Philippines. It was established by Jesuit professors in 1595 and is therefore the first European-founded educational institution in Asia. In Mexico City, the Jesuits had founded a college with the same name in 1588. The Cebu City college was established by Fr. Antonio Sedeño, Fr. Pedro Chirino, and Antonio Pereira of the Society of Jesus in August of 1595. After the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spanish territories in 1767, the buildings and facilities were taken over by the Diocese of Cebu, then by the Congregation of the Mission, and later by the Society of the Divine Word.
  The present-day University of San Carlos traces its roots to the Colegio de San Ildefonso. However, this claim is disputed by the Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Tomas, and by several other historians.
context_section_description: The title of the oldest in the Philippines have been topic for debate between two educational institutions: the University of Santo Tomas and the University of San Carlos.
  The University of San Carlos makes the claim of tracing its roots to the Colegio de San Ildefonso founded by the Spanish Jesuits fathers Antonio Sedeno, Pedro Chirino and Antonio Pereira in 1595. USC celebrated its quadricentennial in 1995. This claim is opposed by the University of Santo Tomas, which argues that USC only took over the facility of the former Colegio de San Ildefonso and that there is no 'visible' and 'clear' link between San Carlos and San Ildefonso.
  Numerous scholars and official government bodies have reviewed the case. According to Dr. Victor Torres of the De La Salle University, the University of San Carlos' claim dates back to 1948 only when USC was declared a University. Fidel Villarroel from the University of Santo Tomas argued that USC only took over the facility of the former Colegio de San Ildefonso and that there is no 'visible' and 'clear' link between San Carlos and San Ildefonso. According to Fr. Aloysius Cartagenas, a professor at the Seminario Mayor de San Carlos of Cebu, “following Church tradition, the foundation event and date of University of San Carlos should be the decree of Bishop Romualdo Jimeno on 15 May 1867 (turning over the seminary to the Congregation of the Missions) and the first day of classes in the history of what is now USC is 1 July 1867, the day P. Jose Casarramona welcomed the first lay students to attend classes at the Seminario de San Carlos.” Thus, he says that San Carlos cannot claim to have descended from the Colegio de San Ildefonso founded by the Jesuits in 1595, despite taking over the latter's facilities when the Jesuits were expelled by Spanish authorities in 1769. According to him there is “no visible and clear link” between Colegio de San Ildefonso and USC. San Carlos was specifically for the training of diocesan priests, and it simply took over the facility of the former, a Jesuit central house with an attached day school.
caption: The University of San Carlos makes the claim of tracing its roots to the 16th Century Colegio de San Ildefonso
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