Leaders from the different colleges and administrative offices in UP Manila (UPM) gathered together to take stock of their current strategic plans and reflect on possible ways that they may align with the strategic thrusts of  the UP System in the second run of the Institutional Strategic Program for Innovation, Research, and Education (INSPIRE) workshop held last September 17-19, 2023 at the Taal Vista Hotel in Tagaytay City. The INSPIRE workshop is designed to equip target participants with the knowledge, mindset, and skills to develop and implement a Strategic Governance System (SGS) in a higher education setting. Participants were oriented on the SGS, an approach centered on alignment of objectives and action plans from the senior leadership down to operational  units and staff, linking strategies to existing performance management tools.

The UP Diliman Quality Assurance Office (UPD QAO), in coordination with the UPM  Office of the Chancellor (UPM OC) and UPM Office of the Vice Chancellor for Planning and Development (UPM OVCPD), facilitated the three-day workshop where participants were reintroduced to the basics of strategic planning with a focus on transferring skills on strategic alignment to the invited heads of units. UPD QAO Director Aura C. Matias opened the program with an overview of INSPIRE. During her talk, she expressed her gratitude to the UPM team for their trust as they venture again in another cross-campus collaboration, after their initial engagements during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ASPIRE-UPM held early this year. 

National Scientist and UPM Chancellor Carmencita Padilla provided an overview of the Presidential Advisory Council’s provisional strategic plan. She shared with the participants the proposed  strategic themes of UP President Angelo Jimenez’s administration: (1) Public Service for the Common Good, (2) Teaching, Research, and Innovation for Future-ready Citizens, and (3) University Governance and Infrastructure with Transparency and Accountability. These priority areas served as the anchor points where all participants were prompted to align their respective units’ goals and action plans as an exercise during the workshop sessions. Chancellor Padilla also highlighted President Jimenez’s direction of boosting co-creation and encouraged UPM’s leadership to think about how to strengthen collaboration with other departments, constituent universities, and other State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) as they review the alignment of their strategic initiatives as an office.

Assistant Professor Benette P. Custodio discussed the modules on Stakeholder Analysis and introduced the Strategy-Objectives-Aspirations-Results (SOAR) Matrix, while UP Diliman Vice Chancellor for Administration Associate Professor Adeline A. Pacia made a presentation on the SGS. In between sessions, representatives from the five groups presented their workshop outputs to be analyzed by the resource speakers where they gave recommendations on how to strengthen the alignment of each units’ plans to the top management.