To strengthen the engagement of various quality assurance stakeholders in the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD), the UPD Quality Assurance Office held a two-day QA General Assembly last March 3 and March 10 at the Bulwagang Tandang Sora, College of Social Work and Community Development.
128 attendees across UPD administrative and academic units joined the QA General Assembly Day 1; meanwhile, 120 members of the academic units attended the Day 2 activities.
Administrative-focus session highlights alignment and synergy
For the first day of QA GA, PBMS Delivery Unit (DU) Administrators, Encoders, and ISO Facilitators were the focused participants, with unit heads also joining the activity. In the Opening Message, Performance Monitoring Team Faculty-in-Charge (PMT-FIC) and Quality Assurance Committee (QAC) member Prof. Evangeline Amor underscored the purpose of the assembly, exploring initiatives designed to enhance our services and better serve our stakeholders through our quality assurance practices.
Prof. Amor highlighted that the annual gathering is an important opportunity for the UPD QAO to connect with key QA stakeholders, share plans and projects for the year, provide a platform for networking with fellow quality practitioners, and foster knowledge sharing and inter-unit benchmarking.
“It is the first time that we hold back-to-back assemblies, combining those who are involved in the Performance Based Monitoring System (PBMS), and those who are involved in the iAADS, EQA, SAR group. This Monday, we are going to concentrate on the PBMS and the ISO. The reason why we organized the QA General Assembly is we wanted the stakeholders and you, as key persons of all the activities that are happening in the university, to be able to see the bigger picture.”
Prof. Amor emphasized the critical role of administrators and support staff, “What we wanted to show was that all these things that we were doing are actually connected with each other. While we encode the indicators, outputs, and outcomes, the bigger picture is seeing that this is connected to the budget.”
Resource speakers graced the assembly with Mr. Virgilio Llenaresas, Chief of the UP System Budget Office, and Ms. Tracy Tusi, Planning Services Division Information Technology Officer II, discussing the Program Expenditure Classification (PREXC).
Mr. Rogelio T. Estrada, Jr. and Ms. Hazzelyn Joy C. De Ocampo from the HR Planning and Research Division of the UP Diliman Human Resource Development Office (UP HRDO) discussed OPCR-PMT Alignment. Mr. Estrada gave emphasis on strategic functions, addressing operations and support functions; and strengthening the importance of developing your rubrics and identifying targets.
To cap off the series of lectures in the morning session, Prof. Amor gave valuable insights on the updates of the Performance Monitoring Team and emphasized the system data collection framework.
A dedicated session for Question & Answer was conducted with striking questions about operational and strategic planning as connected with OPCR creation, and integration of unified PBMS and OPCR platform for efficient submissions.
During the afternoon session, UPD QAO Director Dr. Aura C. Matias gave information on the ISO 21001:2018 EOMS Certification Project. Prof. Matias shared where the project is currently at and where the strategic direction is headed to. With QA as central to the strategic initiatives of UP Diliman, units are encouraged to “fix our house” and correct QA-based reform of internal systems and processes. The QAO supports these goals and objectives through the ISO 21001:2018 Educational Organization Management System (EOMS) project.
Insights and feedback were shared by various administrative and academic units’ ISO facilitators from the ISO Phase 1 series of activities. Internal Quality Assurance (IQA) Team Lead Kelvin Mendoza gave a walk-through on the updated ISO calendar and remaining phases for the ISO 21001:2018 EOMS Certification Project.
UPD Vice-Chancellor for Administration Pacia graced the 2025 QA General Assembly Day 1.
The first day of the 2025 QA General Assembly was concluded by Vice Chancellor for Administration Adeline Pacia, addressing the participants in a closing message. “As we draw the first day of the 2025 UP Diliman Quality Assurance General Assembly to a close, I hope you leave today more equipped to champion quality within your respective units through the knowledge imparted by the discussions earlier,” she said in closing. She also enjoined everyone to join in the UPD Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Administration (OVCA)’s battle cry, “Go for Gold!” as the University commits to achieving a gold award for Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) Report Card Survey.
Academic-focus session underscores commitment to QA pathways
For the second day of the QA General Assembly, Academic Unit Heads, College-level and Department-level QA Officers were the focused stakeholders. Quality Assurance Committee members present include Prof. Ruth Lusterio-Rico, Prof. Evangeline Amor, and Associate Professor Ivy D. Suan.
The 2nd day of the QA GA opens with an inspirational message from QAO Director Matias, addressing the academic leaders and faculty members, acknowledging their feedback regarding the need to recognize the efforts in QA work.
AVP Alyssa Peleo-Alampay shared updates on the UPD performance on quality assurance.
Assistant Vice-President for Academic Affairs (Quality Assurance) Prof. Alyssa Peleo-Alampay served as resource speaker on the QA System Strategic Plans and Targets.
AVP Peleo-Alampay highlighted that the QA initiatives of the University are anchored on the UP context, and that no standard is being imposed upon us. “You are just putting into a system and structure how you are gonna meet and achieve the mission, vision, strategy, your educational philosophy, what is that ‘Tatak UP?’ What are those learning outcomes you are teaching your students?”
Prof. Alampay underscored that the QA endeavors for academic units is a monitoring mechanism on the University’s delivery of learning services to its students.
To provide updates on the Quality Assurance activities of UP Diliman, the QAO team leads presented their respective engagements with academic unit stakeholders. For institutional QA updates, IQA Team Lead Mr. Kelvin Mendoza provided updates on ISO 21001:2018 EOMS Certification Project, Phase 1 Summary and Realizations, and Plans Moving Forward. For the program-level QA, Mr. Charles Ramos, External Quality Assurance (EQA) Lead, oriented academic units on the schedule of upcoming EQA activities and acknowledged top-performing units who underwent EQA assessments. Meanwhile, Ms. Arlyh Hirao, Knowledge Management Team Lead, provided quantitative updates and schedule reminders on the Performance-Based Monitoring System for Delivery Units (DUs).
Continuing the session, Director Matias provided updates on the proposed revisions to the Guidelines for QA Officers Selection, Appointments, and Terms of Reference, as well as the QA Competency Development Framework, underscoring UPD QAO’s vision for strengthening the professional development of UPD QA officers.
Director Matias pressed the importance of organizational succession to be able to ensure continuity of leadership initiatives. “Good leaders must always plan for succession, turnover of responsibilities must be looked into,”she said.
PMT Faculty-in-Charge Prof. Evangeline Amor concluded the QA General Assembly with an inspiring message, thanking the participants across administrative and academic units. Prof. Amor emphasized that efforts from all QA stakeholders, from administrative and academic units are integrated, acknowledging the challenge of making the hard work less painful and more collaborative. “Anything worthwhile needs hard work, so let us embrace hard work,” she said.
“Borrowing from the programs of the QA office, let us all lead and aspire to inspire our colleagues to join us in the quality journey of our University. Build that quality mindset. Having that quality mindset aligns and is consistent with the battle cry of the University for honor, excellence, and service,” Prof. Amor said in closing.
Aside from a series of lecture sessions, interactive activities to strengthen socials and camaraderie among QA stakeholders were conducted.
The QA General Assembly is an annual event of the UPD Quality Assurance Office, aiming to align and communicate QA initiatives of the University among the UPD community and stakeholders.
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).
The UP Diliman Quality Assurance (UPD QAO) brought together 26 Quality Assurance Officers from various degree-granting units (DGUs) of UP Diliman at the recently held QA Clinic at the Training Hall of the School of Urban and Regional Planning (SURP) last September 09, 2024
University officials and academic and non-academic staff from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) and Central Mindanao University (CMU) visited the University of the Philippines Diliman last August 9, 2024 to meet with degree-granting units (DGUs) and the Quality Assurance Office (QAO) to know more about QA structures in higher education and best practices for external assessment.
The UP System Ad Hoc Committee on Quality Assurance Capacity Building (QACB) and the UP Diliman Quality Assurance Office (UPD QAO) collaborated to deliver three batches of Self-Assessment Report (SAR) Preparation Workshops in May 2024.
