Students of the Quezon City University can now avail of free higher education after the school was awarded an Institutional Recognition and Certificate of Program Compliance by the Commission of Higher Education.

CHED Chairman Prospero de Vera III and Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Executive Director Ryan Estevez and Commissioners Aldrin Darilag and Ronald Adamat attended the awarding of the Gawad Parangal trophy to the university.

Under Republic Act 10931, the grant of an institutional recognition and program compliance are requirements for an educational institution to enjoy Free Higher Education subsidy under the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Act of 2017.

Students in accredited schools enjoy free tuition and other fees.

“When the CHED law was created, there was no local college or university mentioned. It only talks about the state universities and colleges which are created by national law. Under the Duterte administration, the link between the LUCs [local universities and colleges] and CHED was solidified, specially through RA 10931 which included LUCs that comply with CHED Institutional Recognition or the Certificate of Program Compliance,” De Vera explained.

Quezon City Mayor Josefina ‘Joy’ Belmonte said that the grant of recognition to QCU was a dream come true.

“The path to our journey for institutional recognition was not easy. Since my term as vice mayor, attaining institutional recognition has always been my dream. This signifies achieving a level of standard of quality tertiary education. It is a step to be eligible to grant our citizens access to free quality higher education as a service from the government,” Belmonte said.

Councilor Irene Belmonte, the chairperson of the Sangguniang Panglungsod Committee on Education, Science and Technology, thanked CHED for the milestone.

“Bilang isang ina, batid ko na hindi biro ang magpaaral ng isang anak kaya  isang malaking bagay para sa mga pamilyang mulat sa kahirapan na magkaroon ng oportunidad upang makapag-aral at makatapos ng kolehiyo. We are grateful to CHED, and the whole team of Chairman De Vera, for granting us this most awaited and most prestigious institutional recognition. We recognize the efforts of everyone who has been part of this journey,” she said.

QCU President Dr. Theresita Atienza expressed deep appreciation for the recognition.

“With this Institutional Recognition, who or what can stop us from giving access to quality higher education in the three districts under Quezon City? This recognition is a testimony to what a local university could be and should be; to offer an excellent model for low cost high quality tertiary education and be an effective partner to be the human resource capital of the city and sustain economic growth,” Atienza said.

The Quezon City University was founded in March 1994. In 1997, it was upgraded to a Local University. It became a university in 2019.