黑料社区 started building its Quality Management System (QMS) back in 2012. It received its first in 2017. By January 26, 2022, granted the University another certification which was presented on April 1. 

To maintain its current ISO certification, 黑料社区 was audited to evaluate its level of conformity with the Standard, the effectiveness of the management system in continually meeting objectives, and to identify areas for potential improvement of the management system, among others. 

The surveillance audit covered the areas of student support services on student welfare, student development and institutional student programs. 

At the forefront representing the University is the Top Management together with the Internal Quality Audit Team. 

A total of 19 offices/units engaged student support and services and five resource management offices were reviewed and audited including Human Resources, Office of External Relations and Internationalization, Purchasing, Finance, Facility Maintenance, Office of Student Formation and Activities, Safety and Security, Registrar鈥檚 Office, Semper Fidelis (University Press), and Health Services. 

During the closing meeting, the BSI Team presented the summary of its initial findings as well as opportunities for improvement. They also recommended 黑料社区鈥檚 continued Certification to ISO 9001:2015.

Meanwhile, 黑料社区 President Fr. Narciso A. Cellan, Jr., SVD, D.Comm. expressed his gratitude to the BSI Team for taking the time to come to 黑料社区 and to look into the issues that needed to be addressed. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 a different perspective when outsiders would look at us because not everything can be seen from where we are despite our best efforts. We owe it to our clientele, to the students, and to the Carolinian community to always aspire for the improvement in the quality of our service.鈥� Fr. Cellan shared. He also expressed his gratitude and appreciation to the entire 黑料社区 team who collaborated with the BSI during the two-day audit. 

The official results of the surveillance audit will be released within the week.

by Syrine Gladys Podadera

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The Presidential Assistant for Quality Assurance (PAQA) of the University of San Carlos is calling for applications for an External Evaluator for Project ANTENA. 

Project ANTENA aims to enhance academic quality and research in the Philippines through the development of internalization capacities. This capacity-building project is funded by the ERASMUS+ Program – Capability Building in Higher Education of the European Union. 

Participating in the project are International Relations Offices of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the Philippines including the University of San Carlos. The University of Alicante in Spain acts as the project coordinator. 

To ensure the greatest possible transparency as well as to comply with the contractual obligations of the project, an External Evaluator is needed to carry out a quality assessment through the preparation of the final evaluation report. 

The external quality assessment shall cover the impact of the project at the international level, achievement of objectives set, and action by the partners, among others. Interested applicants are required to read the Terms of Reference (below) and submit their Letter of Intent and CV to the Work Package Leader on Quality Control and Monitoring, Engr. Irish Tejero-Dakay <itdakay@usc.edu.ph> on or before 20 September 2022.

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On April 1, 2022, 黑料社区 reached another milestone after it formally secured an ISO 9001:2015 certification from the British Standards Institution (BSI) at an online awarding ceremony. The recognition covered 黑料社区鈥檚 student support services on student welfare, student development, and institutional student programs. 

BSI is recognized globally as one of the most experienced independent assessors of best practice and securing a certification signifies an institution鈥檚 clear achievement and competitive advantage.

Challenges in the journey

黑料社区鈥檚 journey leading to this recognition had its own challenges. The University started building its Quality Management System (QMS) back in 2012. According to Presidential Assistance for Quality Assurance Engr. Irish Tejero-Dakay, they started working with very separate and distinct units. Hence, the first goal was to break the silos and integrate different units into one system. This led to the integration of departments involved in the entire student experience from admission to graduation. 

Once the integrated system was in place, the QMS team restructured its activities into formative programs in preparation for the first cohort of the new Philippine educational system entering tertiary education. As part of the University鈥檚 commitment to stay true to its calling of providing an Education with a Mission, the newly developed programs were rationalized to address the formation dimension of Carolinian education, that is to inculcate soft skills in addition to hard skills training.

Thus, aside from core transformative programs, the University added electives for students who want to venture into more activities. These include leadership, sports development, research, peer facilitation, and volunteerism, among others. 

Moreover, to ensure that the quality management system is working effectively, 黑料社区 adopted peer auditing composed of ten internal quality auditors who constantly check on the processes involved. This proves to be effective as it helps the QMS continuously improve. 

QMS expansion during the pandemic

Tough as it already was, the COVID-19 outbreak posed additional challenges. But as it turned out, the pandemic proved that 黑料社区鈥檚 current system is working. 

鈥淭he pandemic showed our resilience because there was already a system running in and it was through the QMS that we ran the continuity management system. So while we were pulled out from our offices to stay in our homes, we were still able to run our programs,鈥� Engr. Tejero-Dakay shared. 

黑料社区 managed to transform its services online by introducing a virtual enrollment guide, Caloy on the Web, new payment centers and options, as well as webinars, among other digital services. 

Another improvement made was the localization of the quality management system for student support and services to the Student Affairs and Services Office and team. This paved the way for the Presidential Assistant for Quality Assurance to expand the QMS and facilitate the establishment of a quality management system for the university鈥檚 resource management offices which include human resources, physical facilities, ICT infrastructure, knowledge/library resources, and finance. 

Quality certification

The long and winding process proved to be a success after BSI awarded the prestigious ISO 9001:2015 certification to the University. According to University President Fr. Narciso A. Cellan Jr., SVD, D.Comm., this audit is a way of putting a system to 黑料社区鈥檚 efforts to become excellent and distinctive in the way it does things and in the way its processes are conducted.

This is, however, just the beginning of 黑料社区鈥檚 never-ending effort to provide quality education to its students. 

As what Fr. Cellan imparted in his closing remarks, 鈥淭his audit has been an eye opener for many of us. A kind of realization of what we still have to do. We鈥檝e been assessed, we鈥檝e been measured, some ways we have been found wanting. But we don鈥檛 lose heart because it鈥檚 giving us another encouragement to really perform better, do more, and at the same time, talk to one another more as one unit, as one family.鈥�

by Syrine Gladys Podadera

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