University of Santo Tomas Bags Spain’s 2021 Casa Asia Award for Education and Science

This article is available in Spanish.

MANILA, Philippines — The University of Santo Tomas bagged the 2021 Casa Asia Award for Education and Science for “being a historical, academic and cultural reference” and for “playing a key role in education and training in the Philippines for more than 400 years.”

Out of 52 nominations, UST was recognized for the following merits: being the oldest university in Asia and currently one of the most prestigious universities in the Philippines; for playing a key role in education in the Philippines; for having a library of great historical and cultural interest, with volumes dating from the 17th century up to the present; and for carrying out digitization efforts of its bibliographic collections in the recent years.

The said university will receive a commemorative engraving and €1,500, which will be given at the awards ceremony this year at a date and place to be announced at a later date.

Other winners are Xulio Ríos in the Culture and Society category, Fawzia Koofi in the category of Diversity and Sustainable Development and Satori Ediciones in the Economics and Business category.

The Casa Asia — a public consortium in Spain consisting of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, the Government of Catalonia and the Barcelona and Madrid City Councils — aims to recognize and disseminate “the work of individuals and entities, both public and private, who have stood out for their work in the economic, social, educational, cultural or development cooperation fields.” The consortium also recognizes individuals and entities who promote dignity and human rights and “have contributed to promote knowledge, dialogue and relations between Spain and the Asia-Pacific region.”

The Casia Asia Award was first instituted in 2004.