a Congregationalist-Presbyterian training school for Visayan-speaking candidates in pastoral ministry. Its students and alumni are a diverse group of local and international students. The Medical School is a relatively new unit in the university. Established in 2004, it has a faculty of 50 medical doctors specializing in Rheumatology, Anesthesiology, Cardiology, Endocrinology, Eye-Ear-Nose-Throat, Family Medicine Gastroenterology, General Surgery, Hematology, Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine, Nephrology, Neurology, Neuro-Surgery, Nuclear Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oncology, Orthopedic Surgery, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Public Health Administration, Pulmonary Medicine, Rehabilitation Medicine, and Urology. The School of Public Affairs and Governance started in June 2007, with Dr. Reynaldo Y. Rivera as the first dean, to provide formal training in the management of local government affairs. It specializes in three areas: Fiscal Administration, Local Governance, and Criminal Justice System; and offers two degree programs, Public Administration (BSPA) and Foreign Affairs (BSFA). The School aims to beef up the expertise of public servants to become more efficient administrators who can discharge their duties in the most economical way with maximum results. A distinguished panel of guest lecturers from Manila and abroad join the resident faculty of Silliman in teaching the courses. The School of Basic Education is home to three departments: Early Childhood, Elementary, and High School. When Silliman Institute (former name of Silliman University) was founded in 1901, it started as an elementary school; thus, making the Elementary Department the oldest unit in the university. In 1916, the first high school diplomas were awarded, and in 1957–58, funding for an Early Childhood School building was secured. Historically, the Early Childhood, Elementary and High School departments operated separately. Due to developments within the university in 2001, however, and to facilitate better coordination between these departments, the early childhood, elementary, and high schools, were merged as one unit, forming what is now known as the School of Basic Education. The School of Agro-Industrial and Technical Education provides short TESDA-accredited technical-vocational certificate courses. These courses are generally sponsored through scholarship grants from government agencies such as TESDA and DepEd. Institutes The Institute of Clinical Laboratory Sciences offers one undergraduate course in Medical Technology. The Institute started as a program under the Biology Department of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1970. Due to its growing population, exemplary performance in licensure examinations and need for autonomy, it was separated and converted into a department under the same college in 1987, making it into a