West Visayas State University (informally referred to as West or WVSU) is a public normal research university (a university system) located in Western Visayas region and the Negros Island Region (with a campus in Himamaylan, Negros Occidental) of the Philippines with its main campus in La Paz, Iloilo City. It was established formally in 1924 as Iloilo Normal School under the Philippine normal school system during the American colonial period in the Philippines under the tutelage of the Thomasites, it dates back its founding 22 years later when the university's College of Education was founded in 1902. It later became West Visayas State College in 1965 and became a university and changed its name to West Visayas State University in 1986.