Administrators, faculty members, and staff strike a pose after the insightful UPD Quality Assurance Summit 2024
Coming off a successful year for Quality Assurance (QA) last 2023, the University of the Philippines Diliman Quality Assurance Office (UPD QAO) hosted the UPD Quality Assurance Summit 2024 to continue its work in promoting and advocating for a quality-assured UP Diliman. The event, held last February 13 and 21 at the Bulwagang Tandang Sora, College of Social Work and Community Development, gathered over 100 participants including Academic Unit Heads, Quality Assurance Officers and key officials in UP Diliman. The QA Summit served as a platform for educational leaders to delve into strategic initiatives aimed at bolstering QA practices throughout the academic units.
(L) QAO Director, Aura C. Matias and Dr. Jose Maria Balmaceda pose for an appreciation photo during the 1st day of the QA Summit
The first day of the summit was dedicated to Internal Quality Assurance (IQA) activities and mechanisms for continuous quality improvement in UP Diliman. In his Opening Remarks, Vice Chancellor for Research and Development Prof. Carl Michael Odulio, Ph.D. reminded participants that degree-granting units have their work cut out for them in 2024. This is on account of the opening of another Internal Academic Assessment and Development System (iAADS) cycle this year and responding to the imperative to pursue external assessment by 2025.
The different Academic Degree-Granting Units of UP Diliman ; Arts and Letters Cluster, Management and Economics Cluster,
Science and Technology Cluster, Social Sciences and Law Cluster
The framing presentation for the summit was given by UPD QAO Director Prof. Aura C. Matias, Ph.D. with her talk on Quality Assurance Mechanisms in the University and the Life Cycle Approach to Continuous Quality Improvement. Director Matias anchored her presentation on QA as a core strategic thrust of UP leadership, with the top-down strategic alignment for QA initiatives. She presented the vision and strategic thrusts of UP President Angelo Jimenez and UP Diliman Chancellor Eduardo Carlo Vistan II. She then shared that the UPD QAO realized the challenge for some of the newly-appointed QA officers who have limited appreciation of QA work seeing QA activities as an additional set of requirements simply to be complied with. To address this, the office tied the QA activities to the major phases of the academic program development lifecycle: Institution, Implementation, Revision, and Abolition. The framework discussed hopes to instill in all stakeholders that QA initiatives are part of their day-to-day responsibilities and change their perspectives towards a holistic approach to QA.
With the launch of the iAADS 2024 cycle, Former College of Science Dean, Prof. Joey Balmaceda, provided an overview and historical context of the iAADS, UP’s internal QA system. His talk enlightened participants on the rationale behind this internal assessment instrument system and provided guidance on how the iAADS results can help units improve their respective programs.
From L-R) Michelle Avelino (QAO), Dean Prof Joseph Ryan G. Lansangan and Ms. Czarine Antoinette A. Antonio from the School of Statistics, QAO Director, Aura C. Matias, Prof. Aleli B. Bawagan from the College Social Work and Community Development, Ms. Karleen May C. Reodique from the College of Social Work and Community Development, Assoc Prof Bryan Alamani, from the College of Engineering, and Charles Ramos (QAO) formed the EQA Panel Discussion
QAO Director, Dr. Aura C. Matias with her opening message for the QAO Summit 2024 and Dr. Jose Maria P. Balmaceda former Dean of the College of Science
Day 2 of the Summit centered on External QA activities where a panel of resource persons from degree-granting units that have undergone external assessment activities and one external reviewer from UP Diliman. They shared different perspectives in the preparation, conduct, and post-external assessment activities. The panel also answered some questions from the participants.
UP System and UP Diliman leaders strike a pose (left to right) VCA Adeline Pacia, VCAA Venice Luzung-Oyzon,
VCPD Raquel Florendo, Dr. Aura C. Matias, AVP Alyssa Peleo Alampay
Expressing their support for QA, key UP System and UPD leaders graced the event, including AVP for Quality Assurance Prof. Alyssa Peleo-Alampay, VC for Academic Affairs Prof. Maria Vanessa Lusung-Oyzon, VC for Administration Assoc. Prof Adeline Pacia, and VC for Planning and Development Prof. Raquel Florendo.Â
Participants in action – asking questions, receiving merch, and making memories.
A highlight of the summit was the distribution of QA Pasaporte to QA Officers, enabling them to document their QA activities and connect with fellow QA practitioners within their Quality Circles. The importance of the QA Pasaporte was emphasized, urging officers to carry them to all subsequent activities hosted by UPD-QAO throughout the year.
While the formal summit has concluded, efforts to foster community building in QA continue online. Attendees were encouraged to join the UPD QA Community of Practice Facebook group to share QA-related practices and further strengthen the QA network within UPD.
To strengthen UP Diliman’s commitment to quality assurance and integrate risk management principles in facilitating the attainment of the University’s core purpose, the UP Diliman Quality Assurance Office and Macro Vision Consultancy (MVC), launched the Risk Management Training on October 14-16 at the Conference Hall, Balay Kalinaw.
The UP Diliman Quality Assurance Office held the 4th quarter QA Clinic on October 28, 2024, with 24 QA Officers. Discussions included year-end reviews, strategic planning, aligning with UP programs, rankings, and QA tools like PESTEL and SWOT to enhance implementation and improvement.
Following the successful ISO Gap Analysis, the UPD Quality Assurance Office together with Macro Vision Consultancy spearheaded the three-day ISO Awareness Training last October 7-9, 2024 at the E.T. Virata Hall, Institute for Small-Scale Industries (ISSI).
The College of Engineering visited the College of Human Kinetics for a benchmarking session facilitated by the Quality Assurance Office. This initiative explored integrating QA practices and ARTA processes at the COE, aiming to synergize academic and administrative processes in their unit.
As a kick-off activity in the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD)’s ISO 21001:2018 Educational Organizations Management System (EOMS) certification journey, fifty-six (56) academic and administrative units participated in the remote and onsite Initial Assessment and Gap Analysis last September 23, 24, and 30, 2024 spearheaded by the UPD Quality Assurance Office (QAO).
SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals One of the missions of UP Diliman is to provide transformative education across a
