Humble Beginnings
Private participation in education aimed at producing excellent and globally competitive graduates is a most welcome development. Imbued with the mission to provide quality education, West Bay College formally opened its doors to the first batch of fifty students during the first semester of SY 1996-1997 after the permits to offer six courses were approved by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
West Bay College is strategically located in Muntinlupa City, at the crossroads to the provinces of Laguna, Cavite and Batangas and cities of Las Piñas, Parañaque and Taguig, with the improved transportation by C-5, travel from Pateros and Pasig City to Alabang is now much easier. Students from these places can avail themselves of the quality facilities and qualified and competent faculty members that West Bay College offers.
The opening of the College in June 1996 started as a quest for quality education. The college boasts of excellent facilities such as its complete chemistry, physics, and bioscience, engineering and computer laboratories. The well-equipped library with its holdings of books of the latest edition provides an excellent source of reading materials in various disciplines.
The College began its operation at Pauline Building I with eight classrooms and laboratories. This is located at A. Bunye Street at Alabang. With the increase in demand for tertiary education in the area, the management has foreseen the need to construct a new building to accommodate the increasing number of enrollees.
In SY 1997-98, the students’ population increased which inspired the management to offer additional courses.
The Ilaya Campus
In November 1997, due to the rapid growth of students’ population, the management decided to transfer to Pauline Building II at Ilaya campus. The West Wing is a seven-storey building and the East Wing is a four-storey building. A simulated ship is located at the rooftop of the seven-storey building containing the original mast of M/V Silva. The training bridge provides a panoramic view of Laguna de Bay. The training bridge contained ARPA, radar and PRS yard and magnetic compasses extracted from a real ship. The Poseidon Radar Simulators and Kongsberg Navigational Simulators of WBC are at par if not even better from other schools particularly in the state-of-the art training. Computers with Internet access keep the students abreast with the latest developments in shipping technology. The radio room is complete with telecommunications equipment that enable students to practice ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore contacts. The Machine shop has various equipment and tools for the hands-on training of the students.
Technical Vocational Education and Training
To further ensure that West Bay College contributes positively to the society and to globalization it embarked on a different service in 1999. Under TESDA, West Bay applied for Tech-Vocational Training and Assessment and was granted its permit on January 2000. West Bay College now is a center for TESDA Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET). These further strengthened the commitment of West Bay to continually improve all its services in education, training and assessment.
Senior High School
A recent change in the Philippines’ educational system was implemented in 2011. President Aquino signed the K-12 education into law in 2013, adding three years to the country’s basic education curriculum. West Bay College implemented the new K-12 curriculum program in 2016 that is required to all Filipino students particularly in junior high school (grades 7 to 10), and senior high school (grades 11 to 12).
Amidst the recent challenges to raise the quality of education in colleges and universities for improving manpower skill in the global arena, West Bay College continues to upgrade its facilities, faculty members and services. The College is now spearheading to the realization of its mission to provide quality education, training and service, and to produce competent and highly skilled manpower for the 21st century.