About GMC

Guang Ming College
Central to its education mandate is Life Education which builds culture makers, scientists and professionals that not only meet local and foreign industry needs, but train them to serve a civic purpose: to engage in praxis and participate meaningfully in public life. Educational praxis creates a world that is liveable and humane, with students having learned from critical praxis or critical and reflective thinking as one of our alternative pedagogic tools – scholars and graduates from GMC are trained to think and produce solutions for human problems, in the interest of building the integrity and resources of communities.

Through performance, human science and cultural research, praxis or reflective inquiry taught in the classroom, partnerships outside the college, and all our activities, we raise students who are equipped in both science and the arts, grounded in makataong (humane) agham (science), capable of applying this in work life; ready to take on the world.

VISION

The leading university for socially engaged performative and creative studies in Asia

Pangunahing unibersidad sa panlipunang pakikibahagi ng performatibo at malikhaing pag-aaral sa Asya

misSION

To nurture creativity and excellence through providing opportunities for mindful and holistic cultivation of personhood informed by Humanistic Buddhist wisdom and values towards societal transformation
Paghubog ng pagkamalikhain at kahusayan sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng mga pagkakataong malinang ang pagkatao at kamalayan hango sa karunungan at kahalagahan ng Humanistic Buddhism tungo sa kaunlaran ng lipunan

MICHAEL LIM TAN, DVM, PhD

College President

Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of the Philippines, Diliman (UPD), an elected academician of the National Academy of Science and Technology, and currently the President of Guang Ming College. After serving as Dean of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy at UPD, he was appointed Chancellor of UPD from 2014 to 2020. As a Medical Anthropologist, his published single-author books include Thinking, Doing Culture (2011) by UST Press; Revisiting Usog, Pasma, Kulam (2008) by UP Press, and Good Medicine: Pharmaceuticals and the Construction of Power and Knowledge in the Philippines (1999) by University of Amsterdam. His Pinoy Kasi column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer started in 1997 and continues today.

Our Founder

Venerable Master Hsing Yun

Venerable Master Hsing Yun is a Buddhist monk, educator, prolific writer, and the founder of the Fo Guang Shan International Buddhist Order in Taiwan (1965) with the primary goal of promoting Humanistic Buddhism through education, culture, charity, and propagation of the Dharma (Buddhist Teachings). He was born in Jiangsu, China in 1927. At the age of twelve, he entered a monastery near Nanjing and received his full ordination in 1941. He became the 48th patriarch of the Linji school of Chan Buddhism.

Venerable Master Hsing Yun spent over eighty years as a Buddhist monk in promoting Humanistic Buddhism- an approach based on the teachings of the Buddha to cater to what people need, integrated into all aspects of daily life, and established more than 300 temples in major cities worldwide.

Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s development goals of Humanistic Buddhism have led to the formation of arts and culture institutions, galleries, performing arts groups, the Three Acts of Goodness movement, and all other forms of presenting arts and culture showing truth, goodness, and beauty that flame up the light of people’s hearts with the richness of cultural exhibitions and performances. He founded educational institutions including the Fo Guang Shan International University Consortium. His enthusiasm and compassionate endeavors have positively changed many places, compassionately helped numerous people, and richly contributed to the development of education, culture, and arts.

Fo Guang Shan International University Consortium (FGS-IUC)

Starting in 1991, Venerable Master Hsing Yun established the University of the West in the United States, Fo Guang and Nanhua Universities in Taiwan, and Nan Tien Institute in Australia. On July 17, 2011, the Presidents of these four universities launched the Fo Guang Shan International University Consortium. This set forth Taiwan’s first international collaborative system for universities and a milestone for higher education. The Fo Guang Shan International University Consortium includes University of the West (USA), Nanhua University (Taiwan), Fo Guang University (Taiwan), Nan Tien Institute (Australia), Tsung Lin University (Taiwan), Center for Humanistic Buddhism, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Guang Ming College (Philippines). 

Since its inception, the Fo Guang Shan International University Consortium has initiated numerous teacher and student exchange programs. Furthermore, students are provided opportunities for cross-enrollment, distance-learning, and postgraduate degrees at partner universities.