Mountain View College (Philippines)

MVC was founded by Andrew Nathaniel Nelson primarily in response to the growing interest in Christian education within the Philippines. A 584% increase for a six-year period in the college enrollment of Philippine Union College when he was then president, magnified the problems associated with the less-than-ideal location of the campus, leading him to the formulation of nine-point criteria for the location of an Adventist college. They were founded on Adventist principles and prior experience (involvement in the founding of Seattle Junior Academy in 1915 and the relocation of Japan Missionary College in 1926).^[9][10]

Although Nelson's criteria were perceived as too idealistic by some of his colleagues, he was determined to find such a site. His search focused on the island of Mindanao, since part of the criteria involved the incidence of typhoons, which was a rare occurrence in that island. The campus of Mindanao Mission Academy, situated in Manticao, Misamis Oriental, served as MVC's temporary campus from 1949 to 1952, while the search was on for a site that met the criteria. It was then known as Philippine Union College Mindanao.^{[2][9][10][11]}

Nelson and his team arrived at MVC's current site in 1950. Negotiations for the purchase of property were then started. After the purchase, initial structures were set up. In 1952, the name "Mountain View College" was chosen from a list that included "Philippine Missionary College" and "Oriental Missionary College". In 1953, classes officially started at the new location. MVC's first offerings were certificates or associate degrees in business, education, and religion. It held its first graduation exercises in 1957.^[9][11]

As of 2009, the college has 132 full-time and part-time teaching faculty members and 73 staff members in the industrial and support service departments.^[12]

• List of Seventh-day Adventist colleges and universities
• Seventh-day Adventist education