UP NEC and UPD QAO join forces for ASPIRE: UP Manila
  • Written by: Kelvin Mendoza and Michelle Avelino
  • Photo/Video by: Arlyh Hirao & Michael Baguisa

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
SDG 4 - Quality Education
SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals

The Administrative Staff Program for Institutional Resiliency and Excellence (ASPIRE) program returned for its eighth run, debuting in another campus after successful iterations for the OVPAA,  Diliman, Los Baños, and Visayas. UP Manila (UPM) is the latest constituent university to jumpstart the involvement of its administrative staff in their journey to quality and excellence through the program. The hybrid training program was held last April 18, 25-26 and May 29-30, 2023 with remote sessions administered via Zoom and face-to-face sessions held at The Bayleaf Hotel in Intramuros. It was jointly delivered by the UP National Engineering Center (UP NEC) and the UP Diliman Quality Assurance Office (UPD QAO), in coordination with UPM’s Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Administration and Finance (UPM OVCAF) and their Human Resources Development Office (HRDO).

ASPIRE Participants pose for a group photo with UPM VCAF Arlene Samaniego, UPM Chancellor Carmencita Padilla. and QA Director Aura Matias (Photo courtesy of UP NEC Training)

ASPIRE is a training program designed to equip university administrative staff with the necessary knowledge, mindset, and skills in developing and implementing a Quality Management System (QMS) that will help their organization attain improved and efficient operations, sustained culture of innovations, customer-driven delivery of services, and empowered human resources. For UPM, the program complemented their recent certification against ISO 9001:2018 and will prepare them for their validation visit this year. This also shows the university management’s commitment to quality and improve their internal processes for their stakeholders.

The cohort was composed of 53 participants from the different offices across UPM and five members of the UPD QAO. They formed eleven groups and were assigned a category of administrative functions from which they will select a specific workflow as their main topic for the training. UP Diliman Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research professors UPD QAO Director Prof. Aura C. Matias, PhD., UPD Vice-Chancellor for Administration Asst. Prof. Adeline A. Pacia, and Asst. Prof. Benette P. Custodio, together with UP NEC University Extension Specialist Mr. Pepito C. Dizon, served as resource persons and guided the participants as they went through the process of developing, revising, and suggesting improvements in their internal process workflows.

Participants with their Certificates of Completion during the ASPIRE graduation ceremonies (Photo courtesy of UP NEC Training)

Select members of the UPD QAO staff also joined as participants and worked on the Academic Program Improvement (API) Fund Grant Management process. Initiatives to address pain points from the process stakeholders, such as introduction of standard templates to shorten process and cycle times, creation of an orientation program to address knowledge gaps and, the development of an online portal to facilitate the API proposal submission and project monitoring phases, were presented to the panel. During the critiquing session, UPD VCA Pacia commended the API digitalization initiative as it can be linked to the ongoing digital transformation strategy of Diliman.

Team UPD QAO receiving the ‘Most Innovative Award’ during the ASPIRE graduation ceremonies

The event concluded with a graduation ceremony held on the last day of the event, where participants were given their certificates of completion. Select participants were also given special awards to recognize their special contributions and outputs throughout the program. Team UPD QAO bagged the “Most Innovative Award” for their recommendations to digitalize the API process through development of an online portal.

ASPIRE is one of the five programs of the UPD QAO under the QA Competency Development Framework, aiming to increase awareness and competency of stakeholders on quality management concepts at all levels in the university.

Facebook
Twitter

LATEST NEWS

Our Newest For you

5 more UPD undergraduate engineering programs complete their PTC-ACBET accreditation visit​

Vixey Lema December 11, 2025

The Bachelor of Science programs in Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, and Geodetic Engineering successfully completed the 57th Philippine Technological Council-Accreditation and Certification Board for Engineering and Technology (PTC-ACBET) Accreditation Visit on November 18-20, 2025, at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

UPD QAO holds 2025 Q4 QA Clinic​

Czarina Arevalo December 10, 2025

The UP Diliman Quality Assurance Office culminates its Internal Quality Assurance activities with its Quarter 4 QA Clinic, bringing together 42 participants across 29 degree-granting units (DGUs). Held on November 17, 2025 at the UP Diliman Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute (EEEI), the QA Clinic was attended by academic unit heads, faculty members, research and administrative staff, and QA officers across the academic clusters.

UPD QAO heads to Central Mindanao University, conducts AUN-QA Site Visit Orientation​

Charles Jason Ramos November 28, 2025

Dr. Maria Aura Teodora C. Matias, Director of the UP Diliman Quality Assurance Office, was invited by the Office of Quality Assurance (OQA) of the Central Mindanao University to orient specific stakeholder groups about the conduct of assessment site visits, specifically in the format of the ASEAN University Network-Quality Assurance (AUN-QA).

UPD QAO Sharpens PUP’s Readiness for AUN-QA Programme Assessment​

Kelvin Mendoza November 21, 2025

As a follow-up to the benchmarking activity last year by the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) with UP Diliman (UPD) academic units, another collaboration was held between the UPD Quality Assurance Office (UPD QAO) and the PUP Quality Assurance Center (PUP QAC), this time through a webinar on the ASEAN University Network – Quality Assurance (AUN-QA) Programme-level Assessment Requirements, focusing on Criteria 3 to 8 last October 27, 2025.

5 UPD undergraduate programs complete external quality review visits​

Vixey Lema October 30, 2025

Five academic programs from the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP) and the Cesar E.A. Virata School of Business (VSB) successfully completed the 3rd External Quality Review Visit held from October 13 to 15, 2025 in the University of the Philippines Diliman.