Western Mindanao State University

Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) is the premier and only state university in Zamboanga City. It has two campuses: the main campus of 79,000 square metres and 9,147 square metres is in the city (Barangay Baliwasan) and the satellite campus of 200,000 square metres occupied by the College of Agriculture and the College of Forestry in San Ramon, 20 kilometers from the city. Campuses comprising the external studies units are in the provinces of Zamboanga del Surand Zamboanga Sibugay. It has a student population of over 32,000 regular faculty members of over 600 and over 200 administrative personnel.With the cessation of the hostilities that marked the end of the Spanish–American War in 1898, Filipino and American educators agreed that the best way to rebuild a devastated nation was through the establishment of a sound education system. Eight Normal schools were then established in the Philippines by the Americans. One of them was the Zamboanga Normal School established in 1904. As a secondary school, the ZNS offered a general academic curriculum under the Department of Mindanao and Sulu primarily designed to cater to the needs of cultural minorities in the provinces of Cotabato, Davao, Lanao, Sulu, and Zamboanga. In June 1921, the secondary normal curriculum of the Zamboanga Normal School had to be phased out for lack of enrollees. It was re-opened the following year and produced its first batch of graduates in 1926. Until the end of school year 1939-40, the general secondary academic and normal curricula continued to be simultaneously offered. As a result of the opening of the Zamboanga City High School in 1939, the general secondary academic curriculum was discontinued but was offered at the college level. It was briefly disrupted with the outbreak of the Second World War.