The teaching of geology at UP is as old as the University itself. It began in 1914 when service geology courses were offered for the Liberal Arts degree at the Padre Faura Campus in Manila. In 1924, when Dr. Jose Ma. Feliciano returned from the US where he obtained a Ph. D. degree in Geology from the University of Chicago, the department of Geology and Geography was organized. He was the first chairman of the department. He held this position until his demise in 1955.

The first students of geology were in fact graduates of mining engineering. This includes Dr. Domingo Salita and Dr. Arsenio Gonzalez. In 1948, the University was transferred to the Diliman Campus in Quezon City. The department occupied the second floor of the third pavilion of Palma Hall, the site of the then College of Arts and Sciences. The College is now the College of Arts and Letters.

The department slowly expanded with the USAID MSA Geology project. The project brought about an increase in the number of instructors and the arrival of American visiting professors, among them, Dr. Joseph Graham. The assistance to UP and the department also came in the form of equipment, books and reading material. The project also enabled some of the now-retired professors to go abroad and pursue graduate studies.

The first all-Filipino staff of the Department was soon realized. The first student to graduate with a BS Geology degree in the country was from UP, Mr. Adonis B. Esmilla who graduated in 1957.

With the death of Dr. Feliciano, Dr. Mateo Tupas succeeded to the chairmanship. Others who assumed the position were Dr. Gonzalez, Professor Fernando Gutierrez, Dr. Emmanuel Tamesis, Dr. Salita, Dr. Telesforo Luna, Dr. Ernesto Sonido, Dr. Teodoro Santos, and Dr. Raymundo Punongbayan. In the 1960s, then COMVOL Chief Volcanologist Prof. Arturo Alcaraz taught structural geology courses in UP, too.

In the 1960s, the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Technical Assistance Board provided assistance to the UP. The main objective of the Program was to train mining engineers who were working with the government and private corporations to become exploration geologists. It was during this time that the department was converted into the Institute of Applied Geology with Dr. Tupas serving as its director. UNDP-UNTAB, Bureau of Mines, UP and the mining companies cooperated to ensure the success of the then Institute. For the second time, a batch of teaching staff in the Institute was sent to the US. Among those who obtained their doctorate degrees in geology, mostly from Stanford University, and later taught in the institute were Drs. Tamesis, Walter Brown and Priscilla Militante-Matias. In addition, major equipment such as the XRD, XRF, optical emission spectrograph, geophysical equipment, field vehicles and books and other library materials were acquired. In 1967, the MS Geology program was put into place. The UNDP-UNTAB Program ended in 1968 and two years later, Mr. Domingo Malicdem became the first graduate of MS Geology.

The early 1970s saw a marked decrease in the number of geology enrollees, coinciding with the turbulent early years of Martial Law. It was also during this period that an Exchange Professor Project was agreed upon between the German Government and the University of the Philippines. The project was intended to provide assistance in developing Geology and Geography in the Philippines. Among the German Professors sent to teach Geology in the University were Drs. Wolfgang Zacher and Fred Seligmann. Enrollment increased in 1976 to 1981 and produced the second largest batch of graduates in one year, 1977.

With the conclusion of the Exchange Professor Project, an evaluation report was sent to the President of the University. The report pointed out lapses in the development of Geology in the University and in the country. On September 1981, UP signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the then Federal Republic of Germany for the purpose of strengthening the geology curriculum of UP. The technical assistance was designed “to upgrade the Department of Geology of the University of the Philippines into an institution that provides an international quality practice-oriented instruction, research, and extension”. Under the program, two German professors – Dr. Walter Scholl, a sedimentologist, and Dr. Helge Fischer, an igneous petrologist, taught courses on a full-time basis. A number of short-term German visiting professors also augmented the teaching force. Among the equipment acquired during this time were the present XRD, XRF, and AAS, microscopes, field vehicles, and others. It was during this time that the most number of students obtained their MS degrees in any 5-year period. Two of them, Drs. Joseph Foronda and Joselito Duyanen, eventually went on to obtain their Ph.D. degrees in Germany in the early 1990s.

One of the requirements of the German government was for UP to build a building to house all of the equipment that was to be donated. The UPGAA Board of 1980-85, led by Dr. Arthur Saldivar-Sali raised funds from donations of alumni and money from the then Ministry of Energy starting in 1981, following the appeal of Dr. Santos, who was chairman of the department. Due the support of then Minister Geronimo Velasco and then UP President Edgardo Angara, President Ferdinand Marcos was convinced to issue Letter of Instruction No. 1191 that approved the release of P15 million from the Oil Price Stabilization Fund for the NIGS building. On March 23, 1983, through the recommendation of then Minister of Science, Dr. Emil Q. Javier, President Marcos signed Executive Order 889 creating the National Institute of Geological Sciences as one of the four centers of excellence in the U.P. System. When the College of Science was created in 1983, NIGS became one of the units under it. NIGS actually started operations on January 2, 1984 with Dr. Teodoro Santos as its first director. The cornerstone of the NIGS building was laid on the rainy afternoon of April 24, 1984 by Min. Velasco, Pres. Angara, and German Ambassador Claus Zeller. The building was completed in 1989 and was inaugurated on February 12, 1990 by then Secretary Ceferino Follosco of the Department of Science and Technology, then UP President Jose V. Abueva and then NIGS director Dr. Benjamin Austria.

The 1990s saw an infusion of talent to the ranks of the faculty with the entry and return of a new generation of Ph.D. holders. They brought with them expertise in emerging and varied fields such as Igneous and Environmental Geochemistry, Marine Geology, Volcanology, Sequence Stratigraphy, and Paleoceanogrphy, among others. Together with their colleagues trained in the more classical fields, they strengthened and enriched both the undergraduate and graduate programs. Enrollment briefly increased when geology entered the national consciousness as a result of the 1990 Luzon earthquake and the 1991 Pinatubo eruption. In 1993, the mantle of leadership was passed on to the new generation when Dr. Graciano P. Yumul assumed the directorship. The period was characterized by a renewed commitment to research and extension service. He was succeeded by Dr. Duyanen in 1998. Dr. Duyanen laid the groundwork for the recognition of the NIGS as a Center of Excellence in the Geosciences by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

Dr. Victor B. Maglambayan assumed the directorship of the Institute in June 2001. A worldwide trend of a slow withdrawal of government support to tertiary education has been occurring. The national government, keen on exercising fiscal discipline, announced a series budget cuts for state colleges and universities. Thus, NIGS embarked on several resource generating activities. On September 7, 2001, the Geoscience Foundation was incorporated with the primary purpose of supporting the NIGS. The NIGS received the P3 million first-year grant from CHED last October 2001. NIGS also revived the UP Geology Alumni Association. On November 30, 2001, the First UP Geology Alumni Homecoming was held and a new set of board members elected. On July 27, 2002, the suspension of the Certificate of Registration of UPGAA, Inc. with SEC was lifted.

To this date, NIGS has produced 3 PhD holders, some 79 MS degree holders and 824 BS graduates in Geology through its over 48 years of existence. The NIGS continues to live up to its vision and missions in order to remain relevant to today’s society.