The UPLB Quality Assurance Office (QAO) recently conducted its Second Quality Assurance Officers Planning Workshop. With the theme “Future-proofing Institutional Excellence,” the planning workshop aimed to prepare a QA guide on degree program assessments.

The College Quality Assurance Officers (CQAOs) partake in the workshop as they continue to work towards the improvement of the self-assessment report (SAR).

Dr. Jezie A. Acorda, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) and former director of Academic Assessment Development Unit (AADU, now QAO), shared his expertise, and personal experiences and challenges encountered in quality assurance (QA) and in crafting the SAR during his term as AADU director. In discussing the differences in approach of ASEAN and European models, he highlighted that QA goal is not about competition with other universities, but about the university developing and working hard on its own standards to ensure it serves its constituency well using its own resources.

In working with QA, he furthered, certain aspects must be factored in, such as clarity in what the institution is doing with QA, how the institution is doing it, and how the institution evaluates it. He elaborated by discussing the QA cycle, emphasizing on the measurement of the institution’s performance, and having clear judgement in doing QA and knowing areas for improvement. The cycle does not end with the recommendation; it acts continuously, he stressed.

During the workshops, the CQAOs presented their comments and suggestions on the enhancement of SAR, streamlined the procedure for the program assessment, and planned the finalization of the UPLB Quality Assurance Guidelines to Self-Assessment at Programme Level.

Dr. Nina M. Cadiz, UPLB QAO director, encouraged and commended the participants for their hard work and continued dedication for institutional excellence in her closing message.The planning workshop was held at the UPLB QAO with Dr. Edmund G. Centeno, Asst. Prof. Rosemarie D. Eusebio, and Dr. Adeliza A. Dorado successfully moderating it. (JMDDelgado/KAEBlanco)

In the pursuit and commitment to quality, the Quality Assurance Office (QAO) conducted a three-day Self-Assessment Report (SAR) writing workshop on June 20-22 through virtual conferencing.

The workshop entitled “What to and Not to”, highlighted pointers and insights on writing and analyzing SAR. It aimed to develop a SAR template that can be used by all colleges in their SAR writing.

Dir. Nina M. Cadiz, QAO Director and UPLB QA officer, emphasized in her welcome remarks the primary purposes of the workshop: to revisit previous SARs and to improve SAR writing by taking note of its contents and format.

A message from Dr. Jean O. Loyola, vice chancellor for academic affairs, provided updates on the administration’s initiatives for quality assurance (QA) endeavors and shared how UPLB is working hard on improvements toward a future-proof digital transformation through the Academic Management Information System (AMIS). She emphasized that QA is not just about the curriculum; the entire university is working together to align all systems to establish a QA culture in UPLB.

Day 1’s highlight was Dr. Ornsiri Cheunsuang’s sharing and insights on the key features of SAR, on writing an impressive SAR, and on qualities assessors look in a SAR. Dr. Cheunsuang is an associate professor at Chulalongkorn University and an AUN-QA lead assessor.

She stressed that the SAR should stand by UPLB’s mission and vision, and that every school or university should have a system to monitor all resources and a learning management platform where students can track their progress records since it is also an international standard requirement. Moreover, benchmarking should not be done only for checklist culture or to simply show data to the assessors; all collected data must be analyzed carefully for improvement.

At the end of her talk, Dr. Cheunsuang encouraged everyone not to look at QA as hard work because it will be internalized instinctively once everyone understands the nature of QA.

The workshop began on Day 2 as UPLB assessors Dr. Myra G. Borines and Dr. Tonette P. Laude presented the SAR template. Having finished AUN-QA Tier 1 Training, they guided the College Quality Assurance Officers (CQAOs) as they worked on standardized criteria 1 to 8 of the SAR. Each CQAOs was assigned a criterion to furnish, which was presented in Day 3.

Dir. Cadiz closed the workshop seminar by extending her deep gratitude and appreciation to the speaker and workshop facilitators.

CQAOs Dr. Adeliza A. Dorado of CAFS, Assoc. Prof. Rosemarie D. Eusebio of CAS, Dr. Edmund G. Centeno ofCDC, Assoc. Prof. Arlene C. Gutierez of CEM, Dr. Leila S. Africa of CHE, Dr. Marion Lux Y. Castro of CEAT, and Dr. Ariel L. Babierra of GS participated in the workshop.

Assoc. Prof. Eusebio, Dr. Africa, and Dr. Castro successfully moderated it. (JMDDelgado)

The year 2022 proves to sustain UP’s mandate and thrust to guarantee top-level quality in education, research, and public service in all its constituent units.

UPLB Chancellor Jose V. Camacho, Jr. reappoints nine out of 11 College/School Quality Officers (CQAOs) as representatives in the UPLB Quality Assurance Office (UPLB QAO).

They are: Dr. Adeliza A. Dorado of College of Agriculture and Food Science (CAFS), Prof. Rosemarie D. Eusebio of College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), Dr. Edmund G. Centeno of College of Development Communication (CDC), Prof. Arlene C. Gutierrez of College of Economics and Management (CEM), Dr. Analyn L. Codilan of College of Forestry and Natural Resources (CFNR), Prof. Leila S. Africa of College of Human Ecology (CHE), Dr. Rhea L. Gumasing of College of Public Affairs and Development (CPAf), Dr. Jovencio Hubert A. Abalos of College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM), and Dr. Janice S. Garcia of School of Environmental Science and Management (SESAM).

The UPLB Graduate School (GS) and the College of Engineering and Agro-industrial Technology (CEAT) have new CQAOs: Dr. Ariel L. Babierra of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Physics (IMSP) and Dr. Marion Lux Y. Castro of the Institute of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (IABE).

All except Dr. Abalos have been appointed CQAO from April 1, 2022 to March 21, 2025. Dr. Abalos’ appointment is from April 1 to November 30, 2022 only.

As CQAOs, they are primarily designated to carry out self-assessment reviews and to assist and guide their respective units in writing the self-assessment report (SAR) of their assigned degree program. They are also expected to implement the policies and mandates of the UPLB QAO and to conduct echo seminars/workshops on QA. Their other tasks include attending training on QA and assisting UPLB QAO in drafting a manual of operations for program assessment.

In 2021, the CQAOs conducted the “Self-Assessment Report (SAR) Writing Training Seminar” on Oct. 28-29 and Nov. 3-4 via virtual conferencing.

The training seminar launched training modules devised by the CQACs that aim to equip SAR writers of the different units with skills and knowledge in crafting a sound SAR, which is a requirement for external quality assessment such as the Asian University Network Quality Assurance (AUN-QA).

This year, the CQAOs are busy conducting SAR reviews of UPLB degree programs and are eyeing benchmarking planning and activities. In particular, CAFS and CEM CQAOs aid in leading their colleges with the 2022 AUN-QA External Assessment. (Katrina Anne E. Blanco)

Meet Bien and Cali.

Bien and Cali are UPLB QAO’s animated character-partners.
They represent the office and are UPLB’s partners in QA who are “tasked” to provide information and trivia about QAO, its mandates and activities, and QA on a biweekly basis in the office’s Facebook Page.

Concerns and needs regarding internal, external, and institutional assessment, as well as training courses and programs, seminars on QA, writing of self-assessment reports, and iAADS completion communicated to the office can also addressed by them.

Bien got his name from the Spanish word “bien”, which means “well” in English, while Cali’s name is from the Spanish word “calidad,” which is translated to “quality” in English.

Bien and Cali represent UPLB QAO as it aims for “good quality” for UPLB’s QA. Welcome, Bien and Cali! (Katrina Anne E. Blanco)

On the last day of “Self-Assessment Report (SAR) Writing Training Seminar”, Dr. Benjamina Paula G. Flor, through her poem entitled “SAR is Not Char”, provided a recap of what transpired during the shared the journey of the College of Development Communication (CDC) in writing their own SAR, and provided tips on how to champion SAR writing.

Dr. Flor is a member of the CDC Quality Assurance Committee.

The four-day training seminar was conducted by the Quality Assurance Office (QAO) on Oct. 28-29 and Nov. 3-4 via virtual conferencing.

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SAR is not char:)

In the SAR context, however, Char is a mnemonic which stands for Comprehensive and Hopefully Approved Reportage.

Thank you for giving us an opportunity to go through this learning activity of assessing our own curricular integrity.

It has come as a revelation that quality, as we perceived it, can be attached to a name because we are UP.

Gone are the days of enjoying the tatak UP branding without benchmarking what others have done or without a standard that can be vetted on or measured against carried out externally to be at par or even better than others as what Director Nina Cadiz had put emphasis.

Dr. Rose Eusebio who started with the end in mind turned Kris Aquino an exemplar of how to engage learners online which all of us became fans in an instance.

Our conviction that UP education is of high quality will not hold ground if we do not align with the needs of the times. Alignment, as the word for this four-day training does not only refer to our curricular maps but should be holistically crafted especially the outcomes to be achieved, according to Dr. Myra Borines. Examples of curricular maps were shown as best practice had we earlier known critical path direction would not have been etched in stone.

Sitting on the accolade that UP is the best can be solidified if our programs can prepare our students for lifelong learning going beyond employment to entrepreneurship based on Prof. Arlene’s tips.

Our openness to embrace outcomes-based education as exemplified by Doc Jomar and Doc Gumasing came as a bling-bling on how we assess students through quizzes or oral exam, portfolio or when to give a cinco, after all, we determine as faculty members what skills and knowledge or competencies students should be equipped with to meet the demands of being gainfully productive as giving back to the nation who paid their tuition.

Prof. Codilan stressed the role of the academic staff in ensuring quality outcomes through proper student-faculty ratio, computation of which was confusing a bit. However, computation will be made easy through a ready excel template that we all can manipulate as promised by Doc Nina Cadiz.

Prof. Leila Africa described the scope of student services and if admin staff are properly trained could take on administrative functions that will relieve the faculty of doing line assembly.

Doc Jovy talked about the learning environment for without it student education will not be complete. Our facilities and structures are classic but with the pandemic or the forthcoming blended learning pedagogy, immersive technologies like augmented or virtual reality should be part of our vocabulary.

Capping the training is Dr. Dorado’s outputs and outcomes which all boils down to what we have done as proof of quality which is our responsibility.

While CDC had its first AUN recognition in 2015, this training provided ample tips and strategies on how to write the SAR this time around. We were walked through the process step by step to hasten the SAR writing, which presumably stop us from swearing. Unlike before where we have to discuss and interpret every criterion only to find out we had a wrong interpretation. From 11 to 8 that sounds great but in reality, the three were tucked where they should be. Lesson learned is to store our data in an online repository like Google Drive and not in hard copies that are neatly bound kept in the dean’s office made available to the evaluating committees. Now, links to proofs are mandated just make sure these are properly tagged and labelled. Knowledge management must be considered since quality assurance could not take a chance.

Of course, challenges will always be there like the tracer study that we have to bear. Graduates do not readily answer the Google forms that come their way. Employers or HR managers may hard to come by either. Long questionnaires will surely be ignored but persistence and patience may just be our license. Sampling is key according to Doc Zita don’t be shy statisticians are on standby.

The remaining months of the year may not be enough to gather data from graduates and their employers especially with barriers like pandemiya. Submitting the SAR as scheduled however must be completed. We can continue data gathering and eventually get ready for AUN scrutiny. Next school year would be more likely to do exit surveys in January. After six months, investigating employability may come in handy.

It would also be a challenge to gather data this time because many lost their jobs due to the pandemic which may not be a true indicator of social mobility and their capacity.

Indicators for lifelong learning maybe difficult to identify coz attribution to the degree may have nothing in common. UPCA formula must be explained and written in full to standardize what colleges have to employ as well as student support services that the university had painstakingly put in place.

But the real challenge is to start somewhere somehow right now for if we won’t we will never know if we ever got there or have gone nowhere. Let’s start self-analyzing and remember that honor and excellence as our mantra mean quality that we have to adhere and live up to today and every day. Thank you.

The pursuit for quality is a continuous and astute aspiration.

This summarizes the quality assurance (QA) webinar conducted by the Quality Assurance Office (QAO) on Dec. 3, 2021. The webinar, with the theme “Forging UPLB’s Path to Quality Assurance”, sought to increase the constituents’ awareness of QA. It is part of QAO’s third year anniversary celebration. More details about this from the UPLB main website.

The headquarters of the Quality Assurance Office (QAO) has finally been blessed by Fr. Jomarie M. Alcantara on Dec. 2, 2021 in time for its 3rd anniversary on Dec. 3. Fr. Jomarie is the parochial vicar of the Diocesan Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, UPLB.

The blessing was initiated by its director Dr. Nina M. Cadiz, and due to the pandemic, was only attended by Ms. Maria Kristelle R. Malveda, administrative officer, Ms. Emlyn A. Umali, administrative assistant, Asst. Prof. Katrina Anne E. Blanco, project development associate (PDA), and Dr. Rafael T. Cadiz.

QAO, formerly known as the Academic Assessment Development Unit (AADU), was originally housed at the 3/F Bienvenido M. Gonzalez Hall (formerly UPLB Main Library Building) from Dec. 2018 to 2019. It was transferred to the 1/F International House Bldg. in Jan. 2020.

QAO was formerly headed (3 Dec. 2018 to 31 Dec. 2019) by Dr. Jezie A. Acorda, now dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine. (KAE Blanco)