The University of Santo Tomas General Santos (UST; Filipino: Unibersidad ng Santo Tomas General Santos) is a private, Catholic higher education institution in General Santos, Philippines. The UST General Santos is the first UST campus in Visayas and Mindanao. It is an extension campus of UST Manila.
In 1997, the UST Manila administration acquired land in General Santos in barangays Ligaya and Katangawan, intending to establish an extension campus in the city. However, the development of the campus was delayed due to land classification issues. The site was classified as agricultural until 2013 when it was reassigned as institutional land.[3][4][5]
Full development of the campus began with the groundbreaking ceremony held in April 2018. Laying of the foundations began in November 2020 and on December 4, 2021, the topping-off ceremony was held on the view deck.[3][6]
UST-GenSan was projected to be operational by 2021,[7] but the opening date was pushed to 2023.[8] The campus would be finally inaugurated on April 11, 2024.[9] The first batch of students will attend for the 2024–25 academic year.[10]
The campus covers an area of 82.2 hectares (822,000 m2) and will have facilities that could accommodate 15,000 students. Its main building is seven-storey high and is fronted by an open plaza. It has a 100-person capacity chapel, library, clinic, org rooms, an auditorium, and function halls.[7][11]
Future plan includes the establishment of the UST-Dr. Ricardo S. Po Sr. Integrated Innovation and Research Laboratories (UST PIIRL).[11]
The university will offer five programs under three pioneering schools, namely the School of Health Sciences, School of Business and Accountancy, and School of Engineering and Information Technology. The five pioneer programs are pharmacy, medical technology, entrepreneurship, accounting information systems, and industrial engineering.[7][11]
