Monday, October 8, 2012

Quality education to meet global challenges

By Danny O. Calleja

Members of the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC)have just completed a program that will strengthen their capabilities to provide quality education to meet the global challenges of the present times, an education official announced here Monday.

"We have just completed the first session of the Executive Course in Education Management and Leadership (ECEML)," according to Dr. Fay Lea Patria Lauraya, Bicol University (BU) president and chairperson of the Bicol chapter of PASUC.

Lauraya said 85 presidents of state universities and colleges (SCUs) from all over the country attended the event with a theme:"Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: The Context of Educational Management and Leadership."

"The leaders must be trained anew to (provide) competitive education not only in the Philippines but in the world,"Lauraya said.

"Quality education is a must in building a quality nation. And being one of the major provider of education, there is a need to provide SUC presidents with new insights and ideas as administrators of education to match the changing conditions in our country and the whole world," Lauraya stressed.

She said that in 2015 SCUs should prepare for the holding of the ASEAN Community 2015 with the goal: One Vision, One Identity and One Community.

"Under the ASEAN Community 2015, trans-global competition will impose tougher demands on the competencies of our professionals," Lauraya explained.

Lauraya stressed that "although the World Economic Forum has upgraded our global competitiveness from 75 to 65,there is still the need for the government to implement further improvements in education."

"There is a need for deeper and wider reforms in education," she stressed.

The first session of the ECEML was conducted by the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) in partnership with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the PASUC.

The executive course, specifically designed for presidents of all SUCs in the country, aims to equip the school heads with relevant and practice-based competencies that are essential in managing and leading their respective SUCs.

The entire ECEML will run until December and will culminate with a visit to a foreign country to observe best modern practices in higher education institutions and to possibly establish partnerships for future collaborations.

The course is a major component of the executive development program for SUCs (EDPS) jointly implemented by DAP and CHED and developed specifically for SUC senior executives and officials.

BU, the leading state-run higher educational institution in Bicol which hosted the event,showcased its best practices on educational management and leadership.

It shared its success stories along public-private partnerships in curriculum development, ISO management review, fiscal and administrative decentralization and salary standardization for non-teaching personnel.

The program is pursuant to the Public Higher Education Roadmap (PHER) 2011-2016 which aim "to enhance the capability of managers of public higher education institutions to implement reforms and program initiatives."

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