Our Lady of Fatima University

History

Founded in 1967 by Jose Olivares and his son-in-law, Dr. Vicente M. Santos, the university grew out of Our Lady of Fatima Hospital. The hospital became the primary provider of medical and health care services for Valenzuela. Olivares was an entrepreneur and previously a chemistry professor at Ateneo de Manila University and at the University of the Philippines. Santos rose from humble origins in Hagonoy, Bulacan, graduated from the University of Santo Tomas, became an obstetrician-gynecologist, and delivered over 96,000 babies during his 40 years of service. The college seeks to promote the virtues of "Veritas et Misericordia" (Latin for truth and compassion).

The founders set about improving the facility from a general hospital to a teaching hospital for health care providers such as nurses and midwives. This began in 1973 with the founding of Our Lady of Fatima College of Nursing. Dr. Santos and his wife Juliet Olivares-Santos continued the school's expansion, including the 1979 establishment of Fatima College of Medicine with the Pioneer Batch graduating in 1983. While Fatima still focuses mainly on medical and allied health studies, in the 1990s, the college diversified, starting programs in computer science, maritime education, education, psychology, biology, and business. The college became a university in December 2002, with Vicente Santos as its founding President. Upon his death, his wife,Dr. Juliet O. Santos, became the university's second president.

The next five years further saw an increase in infrastructure development. New buildings were established in Valenzuela City and Quezon City, with nursing virtual laboratories and simulators. This paved the way for Fatima’s College of Nursing to be designated by CHED as a Center of Development in late 2008. Fatima’s expansion continued with another campus being established in 2008 in Antipolo.

Owing to recognitions it has received through voluntary accreditation of its programs within the framework of the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines, the university voluntary subjected itself to CHED’s Institutional Quality Assurance Through Monitoring and Evaluation (IQuAME) in 2008. In 2009, after being evaluated, it was placed in Category A(t) as a mature teaching university.

In recognition of the university accomplishments, the Commission on Higher Education through CEB Resolution No. 076-2009 granted autonomous status to the university for five years from March 11, 2009 to March 30, 2014.”

Quezon City Campus

During the Guidance Week in the QC Campus, the masterplan for the proposed Athletic Center was made public. The OLFU Athletic Center houses the swimming pool for Physical Education, gym, basketball court for the Fatima Phoenix, and the dance studio for the Fatima pep squad. The Athletic Center will be built along Amor Street in Hilltop Subdivision, meters away from the Mathay Court. The project is due for completion in 2014.

Valenzuela City Campus

The Our Lady of Fatima University, Antipolo campus held the opening of the Fatima University Gallery's first art exhibit entitled, Breaking New Ground on February 26, 2012. The exhibit paid homage to the paintings and sculptures of masters and contemporary artists such as Arturo Luz's Borobodur and Carnival Forms, his paintings Homage to Eusebio Sempere and Homage to Eduardo Chillida. The exhibit also displays Federico Aguilar Alcuaz's Manila Abstract (ceramic jar), Seascape, and Untitled (Trees), along with Fernando Amorsolo's piece, Ruins of Manila. (arts)|Realism]]. It also displays Jerry Elizalde Navarro works, Abdulmari Imao's Sarimanok and other works of multi-awarded modern and contemporary Filipino artists.

Nueva Ecija Doctors' College, Inc. Campus

Our Lady of Fatima University (OLFU) now manages and operates the Nueva Ecija Doctors’ College, Inc. (NEDCI) located in Maharlika Highway, Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija effective November 9, 2015.

NEDCI is the fifth campus of Our Lady of Fatima University. Other OLFU campuses are Valenzuela City, Quezon City, Antipolo City, and lastly the Pampanga Campus which was inaugurated in 2013. Students of NEDCI are assured of the same quality of education and services that being provided to students of other OLFU campuses.

NEDCI is currently offering four (4) college programs namely Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy, Medical Technology, Tourism and Hotel and Restaurant Management. Beginning School Year 2016-2017, it will also accept Senior High School (SHS) students offering the four (4) strands of Academic Track, i.e., Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM); Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM); Humanities and Social Sciences (HumSS); and General Academic Strand (GAS), same SHS program offerings as other OLFU campuses.

Accreditation

Fatima College of Physical Therapy, Fatima College of Pharmacy, Fatima College of Hotel and Restaurant Management, Fatima College of Nursing and Fatima College of Dental Medicine, programs are accredited by the Philippine Association of and Universities-Commission on Accreditation. The Association of Schools, Colleges and University-AAI also accredited Fatima's Graduate School and the College of Arts and Sciences. The Fatima College of Medicine is also accredited by the New York State Education Department and the Illinois State Board of Education. The College of Maritime Education is ISO Certified ISO 9001:2000 and is included in the Commission on Higher Education's "white list" as a qualified provider of maritime education. The College of Medicine is accredited by Association of the Philippine Medical Colleges. It was also listed in the World Health Organization Geneva Recognized Medical Schools. It is accredited furthermore by the Illinois State Board of Education and New York State Board of Education and is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to administer Title IV Program.

Accomplishments

The first graduate class of 1976 garnered a 100% passing average in the Nursing Board examinations. Less than a year after becoming a university, the Commission on Higher Education, recognizing the “enormous contribution of the Our Lady of Fatima University in the growth and prominence of tertiary education in the country and the Asia-Pacific and its commitment through quality education, research and extension work” granted deregulated status to the university through CHED Resolution No. 393-2003 dated October 27, 2003.

The College of Nursing of OLFU is acknowledged by the CHED as having a strong undergraduate program and its possession of the ability to develop its faculty and research center. An institution cited as a Center of Excellence, on the other hand, is a unit within any higher education institution (HEI) with a strong graduate program and an undergraduate program that meets the international standards of academic quality and excellence.

In 2010, Dean Arturo de Leon, the Dean of College of Dentistry, was elected as the President of the Philippine Dental Association (PDA) and the South East Asia Association of Dental Educators (SEAADE). Dean De Leon was the first independent candidate to run and be elected as President of PDA and the youngest President of SEAADE.

It is the first and only Philippine medical school to have an institutional clerkship program with a foreign hospital. The university has sent over 100 medical students for clerkship training at the Brooklyn Medical Center and Peninsula Hospital in New York City and the Jackson Park Hospital in Chicago. Fatima has graduated more than 30,000 medical and allied medical health practitioners from all disciplines. During the 2011 Physician Licensure Examinations, the university dominated half of the list of top ten board passers.

On July 2011, College of Pharmacy showed exemplary results at the June 2011 licensure examinations as forty students passed the exam and received an over-all passing rate of 89%. The College of Computer Studies (CCS) under the deanship of Dr. Raymond S. Macatangga was also recognized making OLFU the first university in the Philippines to be recognized as a Novell Academic Training Partner (NATP).

The university also garnered four Diamond, 1st Place awards and a Special Citation award for Dean Jose Jurel M. Nuevo, in the Asian Conference for Academic Journals and Higher Education Research and Asian Conference for Research Journalism held at the Pryce Plaze Hotel, Cagayan de Oro City in August 2011. Way back 2010, the university representatives also won Best International Oral Research Presentation Award for the paper entitled "The Art and Science of Task Delegation in Critical Care: The Common Praxis among Junior and Senior Filipino Nurses" at the Diamond Hotel. OLFU has also won research awards including the International Environment Research Award at the International Conference for Higher Education Research on May 2010 and International Environment Research Award during the International Conference for Higher Education Research held in Vigan City.

Others

Fatima University Medical Center and Virtual Laboratories

At the heart of the College of Medicine lies the '[[Fatima University Medical Center]] which is a 150-bed hospital within the university campus. The Center is an institutional partner that serves as a teaching tertiary hospital, equipped to give students hands-on experience and exposure. It is furnished with medical, diagnostic and surgical equipment. It houses a first class emergency room, intensive care unit, with centralized monitors, physical rehabilitation clinic, pulmonary laboratory, ophthalmology clinic and ENT clinic.

Fatima creates a "hands-on classroom" providing students with patient care experience. Equipped with training manikins and simulators, Fatima provides students exposure to medical procedures.

Athletics

The Fatima Phoenix commonly called Team Fatima are chosen athletes compete in basketball, volleyball, badminton, taekwondo, cheer dancing, track and field, chess, billiards and swimming. These are students who are gifted in sports are representing the University in NAASCU, PRISAA and other competitions. In 2010, in its second foray into the NAASCU competition, Fatima Phoenix finished 4th overall champion in competing in nine sports.

Basketball

Taekwondo

PEP Squad

Dance Troupe

Chess

Volleyball

Badminton

Track & Field