Get to know us
Here at SWU PHINMA, we create an inclusive and supportive environment that provides vibrant moments for students to explore opportunities, develop leadership, and demonstrate a strong sense of service thus strengthening and reinforcing learning outcomes and empowering students to become the best that they can be.
Choose Southwestern University PHINMA
1 in 3 students have scholarships.
80-100% success rate in licensure exams.
90,000 students are enrolled and thriving.
81% of graduates are employed within a year.
9 major campuses and counting.
SWU PHINMA is a school for serious and driven students who are willing to reach the pinnacle of their profession. At SWU PHINMA, students are of the topmost priority, providing each the assistance essential in the students learning journey towards becoming the best that they can be.
Identity, Mission, and Vision
Goals
Southwestern University PHINMA achieves its VISION and MISSION by:
1. Building academic philosophy centered on Active Learning and the use of innovative learning technologies;
2. Becoming the leading School of Medicine and Health Sciences in the Visayas and Mindanao in terms of board passing rates, employability, and enrolment;
3. Developing the other programs to be at par, in terms of reputation and academic performance, with the health sciences programs;
4. Establishing SWU PHINMA in the minds and hearts of our stakeholders as an institution providing practice focused, relevant, and high quality learning in order to equip its students with the competencies and character needed to reach the heights of their profession;
5. Designing the SWU Medicine & Health Sciences cluster and SWU Medical as a single, unified institution of learning with seamless, patient-oriented, competency-based academic program that inculcates a coordinated and collaborative approach to patient and health care.
6. Improving the community’s well-being through institutionalized , collective, and organized action responsive to aspects of education, economic, health, environment, safety, and security;
7. Creating an inclusive and supportive environment that provides vibrant moments for students to explore opportunities, develop leadership, and demonstrate a strong sense of service thus strengthening and reinforcing learning outcomes and empowering students to become the best that they can be;
8. Providing value-for-money, quality academic programs in the international markets of its choice and for at least 10% of its post-secondary student population to be international students;
9. Establishing to be a customer-oriented mindset, culture, and practice in the University and the Medical Center.
Mission
Aligned with PHINMA Education’s mission of “Making Lives Better through Education,” Southwestern University PHINMA is dedicated to mold students into successful professionals ready to transform the world.
Vision
Southwestern University PHINMA, shall:
1. Remain committed to academic excellence, be number 1 in the Visayas and Mindanao in Medicine and its Health Sciences programs; among the top in its chosen programs; and well known in select international markets;
2. Be seen as an educational game changer, leading through learning innovations;
3. Produce graduates who are the top choice of employers and clients;
4. Be housed in a modern, well-designed, green and sustainable campus;
5. Be a community hub, Southwestern Town, providing education, health and other vital services;
6. Assume community leadership working to make the community, city, and country a better place;
7. Be recognized for SWU Medical Center which will be a leading center for relevant, quality health training and affordable, integrated health care services catering to middle income families.
A Brief History of Southwestern University PHINMA
Southwestern University PHINMA, a school in Cebu City, is the first medical school outside Manila. This growing university in the south was founded as Southwestern Colleges in the summer of 1946, when the entire country was in the process of rehabilitation from the destruction of the Second World War.
SWU was founded with the following programs: High school (day and night), first two years of Arts and Sciences, Education and Commerce, and first year Law. In the first school year of 1946-1947, Southwestern Colleges offered programs in the Graduate School and the Colleges of Pharmacy, Dentistry, and Medicine. Thus, earning the distinction as the first medical school outside Manila. The college of Nursing was added in 1948.
Southwestern Colleges was granted its university charter on December 11, 1959. In the same year, Optometry was opened, while the college of Medical Technology was opened in 1962, Veterinary Medicine in 1972 and Physical Therapy in 1991.
SWU was acquired by PHINMA Education in 2015 and continuous to build on its expertise and extends these to new program offerings.
The school aims to enable students to become the best that they can be by providing practice-focused, relevant, hands-on learning and creating an empowering and vibrant student life and community.
With PHINMA Education acquisition, SWU PHINMA’s affiliate, Sacred Heart Hospital, became Southwestern University Medical Center (SWU Med). SWU Med complements the SWU PHINMA School of Medicine, College of Nursing and other health and allied science departments in developing globally competitive physicians and allied medical practitioners.
Institutional Recognitions
Top 4 Best Performing School (Pharmacy, April 2021)
6th Placer – Boniao, Genevive C.
89.29% Over-all Passing Rate
95% Passing Rate for First Takers
Top 5 Best Performing School (Medical Technology, March 2021)
Top 3 Best Performing School (Medical Technology, January 2021)
6th Placer – Sampayan, Salvador, Jr. C.
89% Over-all Passing Rate
94% Passing Rate for First Takers
Physician Licensure Exam (2020)
8th Placer – Gapo, April Jean G.
9th Placer – Naingue, Jessa April S.
10th Placer – Solidor, Carren Emirose H.
85 new Medical Doctors
80% Passing Rate for First Takers
Occupational Therapist Licensure Exam (February 2020)
7th Placer – Dennis Ian Alvarez Delgado
100% Over-all Passing Rate
Top 2 Best Performing School (Optometry 2019)
4th Placer – Pelingon, Shayne Allyssa O.
90% Over-all Passing Rate
90.91% Passing Rate for First Takers
