Because of close relations between the Philippines and the United States in the earlier years of this century, developments in the Philippines since that country achieved its independence in 1946 are of particular interest to Americans. An important aspect of the island nation's efforts in its first 15 years of complete self-government is the expansion of its educational system. At the higher educational level, the broadening of opportunities since World War II has been marked by a striking increase in the number of colleges and universities, the majority of which are under private auspices. The rapid growth and resulting complexity of the higher educational sector has rendered obsolete most of the earlier reference material available in the United States concerning Philippine institutions of higher learning. With educational intercommunication between the two nations expanding rapidly in volume and importance, the publication of a study of the current state of higher education in the Philippines seems particularly timely. It is hoped that the present bulletin, which supersedes "Public Education in the Philippine Islands" published by the Office of Education in 1935, will be of particular value to students of comparative education and to American university officials dealing with educational exchanges between the United States and the Philippines. This bulletin is the first part of a two-part volume. It contains the following sections: (1) Foreword; (2) Acknowledgments; (3) Chapter I: Introduction; (4) Chapter II: The Islands and the People; (5) Chapter III: The Development of an Educational System; (6) Chapter IV: Higher Education: The Public Institutions; and (7) Chapter V: Higher Education: The Private Institutions. Individual sections contain footnotes. (Contains 7 charts and 23 tables.) [Due to its size, this volume has been processed as two separate parts. The first part includes the foreword through Chapter V. The second part includes Chapter VI through the appendices. The cover page and table of contents are repeated in the second part. For the other part, see "Higher Education in the Philippines. Bulletin, 1961, No. 29. OE-14065. [Chapter VI - Appendices]" (ED544129). Best copy available has been provided.]