TL;DR — USC states it offers 43 undergraduate and 48 graduate programmes. Talamban is the biggest of its campuses at roughly 78 of the university's 88 hectares, and USC's own site confirms Engineering and Healthcare Professions sit there while Education sits at the South Campus. It does not publish a per-programme campus map beyond that, so confirm your campus before you plan a commute. Tuition is not published.
The address, contact numbers and campus facts are on the University of San Carlos Talamban Campus profile, and other options in the city are on the Cebu City schools page. This post is about the programmes.
First, the campus question, honestly
People search for Talamban specifically because they want to know whether their course is taught there. USC's own site answers that only partly.
What it does say: the School of Healthcare Professions is located at the Talamban campus. The School of Engineering trailblazed the expansion to Talamban in 1964. The School of Education is located at the South Campus. Its institutional page puts about 78 hectares of the university's roughly 88 in Talamban.
What it does not say: which campus every other school and department teaches on. The School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Architecture, Fine Arts and Design, the School of Business and Economics and the School of Law and Governance pages describe their departments without naming a campus. So if your programme is not in engineering, healthcare or education, treat the campus as unconfirmed and ask the admission office directly. That is a five-minute question that decides where you will live for four years.
The undergraduate list
USC publishes the full list both alphabetically and grouped by school. Grouped is more useful, because the school tells you which faculty you belong to.
School of Engineering — Chemical, Civil, Computer, Electrical, Electronics, Industrial, and Mechanical Engineering.
School of Healthcare Professions — Nursing, Nutrition and Dietetics, Pharmacy.
School of Arts and Sciences — Anthropology; Biology and Marine Biology; Chemistry; English Language Studies, Literary and Cultural Studies with Creative Writing, and Communication major in Media; Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology and Data Science; Philosophy; Applied Physics; Psychology.
School of Architecture, Fine Arts and Design — Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Interior Design, and Fine Arts with majors in Advertising Arts or Cinema.
School of Business and Economics — Accountancy, Management Accounting, Internal Auditing; Business Administration with majors in Financial Management, Human Resource Management, Marketing Management or Operations Management; Entrepreneurship; Economics; Hospitality Management, Tourism Management, and a Diploma in Culinary Arts.
School of Education — Secondary Education major in Science or Mathematics, and Special Needs Education with a specialisation in Early Childhood Education-Montessori Education.
School of Law and Governance — Political Science with majors in International Relations and Foreign Service or Law and Policy Studies.
One inconsistency worth flagging: BS Economics appears under the Department of Economics in the grouped listing but is missing from the alphabetical listing on the same page. If Economics is what you want, confirm it is currently open for intake rather than assuming from either list.
Which of these end in a licence
This is the split that shapes your first job, and USC's course list does not make it explicit.
| Programme group | Licence at the end |
|---|---|
| Accountancy | CPA licensure exam |
| Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Interior Design | Separate PRC boards for each |
| Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Electronics and Mechanical Engineering | The corresponding PRC engineering board |
| Computer Engineering, Industrial Engineering | No PRC board exists for either field |
| Nursing | Nurse licensure exam |
| Pharmacy | Pharmacist licensure exam |
| Nutrition and Dietetics | Nutritionist-dietitian licensure exam |
| Chemistry | Chemist licensure exam |
| Psychology | Psychometrician exam at bachelor level |
| Secondary Education, Special Needs Education | Licensure Examination for Teachers |
| Business Administration, Entrepreneurship, Economics, Management Accounting, Internal Auditing, Hospitality, Tourism, Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, Data Science, the arts and humanities degrees, Political Science, Anthropology, Biology, Marine Biology, Applied Physics, Philosophy, Fine Arts, Communication | No PRC licence |
Our board exam passing rates by course sets the national context for the licensed half, and the BS Nursing guide covers the health route specifically.
What the accreditation tiers actually tell you
USC publishes more accreditation detail than most Philippine universities, and the tiers say different things.
CHED Autonomous Status is institutional. It means CHED grants the university broad freedom from routine supervision on the strength of its track record.
FAAP Level III via PAASCU covers twenty programmes: Accountancy, Anthropology, Biology, Business Administration, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Communication Languages and Literature, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Nursing, Pharmacy, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology and Teacher Education. Graduate Arts and Sciences and Graduate Education hold Level II.
PTC-ACBET is the one that travels. Seven engineering programmes hold full accreditation from the Philippine Technological Council, which USC states conforms to the Washington Accord. For an engineering graduate who may work abroad, that is worth more than any domestic tier. Our best engineering schools guide explains why.
Centers of Excellence and Development are CHED designations for specific programmes. USC holds eight COEs (Anthropology, Business Administration, Chemical Engineering, Entrepreneurship, Mechanical Engineering, Office Administration, Physics, Teacher Education) and twelve CODs (Biology, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Hotel and Restaurant Management, Industrial Engineering, Information Technology, Marine Biology, Philosophy, Tourism).
Note that Office Administration is designated a Center of Excellence but does not appear in the current undergraduate list. Designations lag programme changes, so read them as a signal about departmental strength rather than a guarantee the course is open.
Graduate and professional programmes
USC lists eight doctoral degrees, including a Doctor of Engineering and PhDs in Biology, Business Administration, Education, Information Technology, Philosophy, Physics and Science Education. The master's list runs to more than thirty, spanning accountancy and business (including a thesis and a professional track MBA), architecture with four majors, the arts and sciences, education, and seven engineering fields.
Post-baccalaureate offerings include the Juris Doctor in thesis, non-thesis and tracked forms, the Doctor of Pharmacy and a Certificate in Clinical Pharmacy. Diplomas cover Information Technology, Culinary Arts, and two manufacturing and semiconductor engineering technology programmes, which are the shortest route in this catalogue into Cebu's electronics sector.
Getting in, and what it costs
USC keeps admission unusually informal at the enquiry stage. It tells prospective students to schedule an appointment with an admission office, which it says exist on all campuses, or with the chair of the department offering the programme. Credentials for undergraduate programmes generally include the high school report card and an original NSO-issued birth certificate. Enrolment runs through the university's ISMIS platform, and USC publishes a downloadable academic calendar for the coming year.
On money, USC publishes no tuition table. It points instead to scholarships, grants-in-aid and loans, including its S-V-D Scholarship. Expect to get a real figure only at assessment, and ask for a full breakdown by programme and year level, since a laboratory-heavy engineering or healthcare course will not cost what a humanities course costs.
What to ask before you choose USC
Four questions that a course list cannot answer for you.
Which campus, and for how long? Some programmes move students between campuses over four years. Ask specifically where first-year general education subjects are held, not just where the department sits. Talamban is well outside the city centre and the commute is the single most common regret students report about picking a campus blind.
Is my programme currently open? Two entries on USC's own pages disagree with each other, Economics and Office Administration. Ask the department chair for confirmation of intake before you build an application around either.
What is the assessment for my exact course? Engineering, architecture, nursing and pharmacy carry laboratory and clinical charges that a humanities course does not. A single number for USC does not exist.
How does the department handle board review? For the licensed programmes, ask whether review is built into the final year, run by the department, outsourced, or left to the student. The answer varies by department at every large university, USC included. Our list of courses with board exams is the quick check on which side your programme falls.
Sources
- University of San Carlos, Undergraduate Programs (alphabetical and departmental listings) — https://usc.edu.ph/catholic-educational-institution-academics/undergraduate-programs
- University of San Carlos, Graduate and Professional Programs — https://usc.edu.ph/catholic-educational-institution-academics/graduate-and-professional-programs
- University of San Carlos, Schools (School of Engineering, Healthcare Professions, Education, Arts and Sciences, Architecture Fine Arts and Design, Business and Economics, Law and Governance) — https://usc.edu.ph/catholic-educational-institution-academics/schools
- University of San Carlos, Accreditation and Recognition (Autonomous Status, FAAP and PAASCU levels, PTC-ACBET, COE and COD lists) — https://usc.edu.ph/catholic-educational-institution-accreditation-and-recognition
- University of San Carlos, At a Glance (campus land area, programme counts, history) — https://usc.edu.ph/catholic-educational-institution-at-a-glance
- University of San Carlos, Admission General Information (appointment process, credentials, ISMIS, financial assistance) — https://usc.edu.ph/catholic-educational-institution-admission/general-information