The University of the Philippines is the country's first institution of higher learning and currently functions as a university system composed of seven constituent universities and one autonomous college, with 15 campuses spread across the archipelago. As of 2012, the UP system had approximately 57,000 students. The University of the Philippines was established on June 18, 1908, through Act No. 1870 of the Philippine Legislature, upon the recommendation of then Secretary of Public Instruction W. Morgan Shuster. The Act authorized the Governor-General to establish the university “in the city of Manila, or at such place as he may determine to be most convenient.” The University of the Philippines was founded to provide “advanced instruction in literature, philosophy, the sciences and arts, and to give professional and technical training” to all qualified students regardless of age, sex, nationality, religious belief, or political affiliation.