Miriam College ventures to Calabarzon, breaks ground at coed Laguna campus site

Rapid economic growth in the provinces of Cavite, Laguna,  Batangas and Rizal continues to convince schools based in Metro Manila to establish new campuses in their cities and towns.   The latest to venture out to the rolling plains south of Metro Manila is Miriam College, which broke ground Wednesday on a 15-hectare property in the Nuvali development of Ayala Land Inc. in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna.   Its closest neighbor, Xavier School Nuvali, will open this June and has been accepting applicants from Kindergarten to Grade 3 since August last year.    Other schools that chose to locate south of the capital are:  

• University of Santo Tomas;
• Malayan Colleges; 
• Lyceum of the Philippines;
• De La Salle University;
• Ateneo de Manila University; and
• Far Eastern University.

  San Beda College opted to go east to Taytay, Rizal.   Among the country’s provinces, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Rizal have the highest per capita expenditure levels, according to the National Statistical Coordination Board.   “The contract of sale between Miriam College and Ayala Land is not just a business deal or a financial investment for the school’s sustainable development. Signing this contract signifies a major commitment that will impact on this institution’s growth, its mission and its very life,” Miriam College board of trustees chair Josefina N. Tan said.   Miriam College-Nuvali is scheduled to open in June 2014 with its first phase of offerings consisting of basic education programs: Grade 1, Grade  2 and 1st year and 2nd year high school.   “We will begin with a basic education program focused and strong in three major academic areas—core areas that have been the strength of a Maryknoll/Miriam education all these years: Science, Math, and the Communication Arts,” Miriam College president Rosario Lapus said.   “It will be an inclusive campus. We will have young boys and girls to educate—just like the first schools our Maryknoll sisters established in Malabon, in Lucena, in Lipa, in Baguio and in Davao,”  Lapus also said.   She assured that the best students will gain the privilege of studying at Miriam College-Nuvali.   “We aim to get the best students—smart, motivated, self-driven—from among this local Laguna community, a large number of whom will receive support from the school,” Lapus said.   Ayala Land Inc. chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala was on hand to welcome the Miriam College community to Nuvali.   He said the Ayala Land project and the college have shared values on the environment and community development.   In the open forum that followed the contract signing, Nuvali general manager Aniceto Bisnar Jr. said Miriam College’s location will enable it to draw not just students from Laguna and Cavite, but also from Batangas.   Lapus declined to divulge how much Miriam College will spend to build and operate the Nuvali campus, but she did say that the college saved for it and will use internally-generated funds as much as possible. — with Ralph Angelo Ty/ELR/KG, GMA News