On August 15, 1967,[2] a non-profit private research center was formally established by economists Dr. Bernardo M. Villegas and Dr. Jesus P. Estanislao, who would later be appointed Finance Secretary during the presidency of Corazon Aquino.

The meeting encouraged Estanislao and Villegas to expand the institution's horizons internationally, which resulted to its first graduate program, the Masters in Industrial Economics.

1982 1989 1991 1992 1993 1995 1996 1997 1998 2000 2005 2006 2008 2009 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024 The university is made up of a college offering liberal arts courses as core curriculum and six schools of varied specializations.

[citation needed] A Board of Trustees, chaired by Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., takes care of the UA&P Foundation, Inc.

[citation needed] UA&P's academic programs operate on a semester calendar beginning in early August and ending in mid-May.

With each training session or competition, with each victory or loss—students imbibe the values of teamwork, self-mastery, discipline, and the practice of sportsmanship at all times.

Student interest groups are available for writers, theater artists, dancers and dance enthusiasts, and musicians and music producers.

The Office of Student Affairs' Civics Desk holds the annual youth conference Civitas Asia and the BIGGKAS project which extends tutorial sessions to local public schools.

Virtus has led numerous student achievements including making UA&P the first Philippine university to win the Asian Business Case Competition @ Nanyang,[13] Citibank APAC Treasury and Trade Solutions Case Competition,[14] and 2022 Asian English Olympics,[15] among other local and international events.

Since the CHED's approval of the creation of University of Asia and the Pacific in 1995, a separate unit taking on the name of the Center for Research and Communication has taken on consultancy work in close association with the new university[16] and focusing on the areas of business, economics, international relations, and education,[17]: 80  as well as more recently food and agribusiness, energy, data science, analytics, and transportation and logistics.

[23] In 2014, CRC also established a research chair specifically focused on Migration and Overseas Filipino Work, initially in partnership with the BPI Foundation.

[24] Its notable research in the area concerns the support system needs of OFWs, on their reintegratrion experiences upon returning to the Philippines, and an influential 2022 study on OFWs physical and mental health needs[25] which was later awarded the inaugural APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Research Prize by the APEC Forum on Women and the Economy in 2019.