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| A good "harvest"... and yet, we ache for more. |
I know that this blog is "(almost) never about work", but I just have to post this one... and, hopefully, my colleagues and our students in the University would be able to read it.
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I have a dream...
It has been a good year, it has been kind to us... and we are nothing but, oh, so thankful! To God be the glory!
It has been a good year, it has been kind to us... and we are nothing but, oh, so thankful! To God be the glory!
Indeed, the Academic Year has been rewarding our hard work for the past three years with "sweet fruits"... and yet, our mouth waters from the definitely sweeter "fruits from our dreams". While we savor the sweetness of our harvest, and we murmur a sincere prayer as we take a bite with real gusto... I cannot deny the fact that, yes, we are hungry for more! At least, I am.
Recently, all six of our Programs in the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Santo Tomas were granted either Center of Excellence (COE) or Center of Development (COD) by the Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED). Our Chemical Engineering Program was recognized as COE while our Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics and Industrial Engineering were granted COD. As much as I personally wished for all the Programs to be granted COE, I would have to make do of COD status, considering the long-distance run that we had to make over the last three years to cover miles and miles of slack. I commend my Team for braving the torturous three-year 'marathon', and for keeping up with the metric I laid on the ground as we all dashed to the "finish line" - as a Team. Of course, a few of them could have done better for us to have obtained better results... but that's not mine to lament - it's theirs.
Many of our counterparts who have long started to run the marathon while we "slumbered" in the comfort of our old and withered laurel crossed the finish line ahead of us, therefore, picking up the COE accolade for most of their Programs. It was good for them! I sincerely commend them for their great efforts and their success... knowing what kind of effort was necessary to merely cross the finish line, if at all.
The glory is good... but that's not why I prefer that all our Programs be granted COE. My objective is bigger than mere glory! I wish for our University to continue catering to students from a wide range of income bracket, especially extending to the low-income bracket. But, in this day and age, high-quality engineering education entails high cost. A COE receives PhP 2M per year from CHED on a project per project basis in the areas of teaching-learning, research and extension service. This is to achieve high-quality delivery of curriculum. Rather than letting the students bear the cost of high-quality education through high tuition fees, the COE grant could help alleviate, and even prevent, tuition fees increase. While the PhP 1M per year that CODs receive, also on per project basis, is substantial, 2M would undeniably go a long, long way! Therefore, getting the COE recognition helps a private University to make high-quality education accessible to students from low-income families. In a way, working to get the COE status is one way for us in the private education sector to make the income tax paid by citizens to work for them. And, that's one way for us to become an effective partner of the government in nation-building and sustained progress.
Six Programs: one COE, five CODs. Things are good for now... but they should get better next time around. In fact, they should constantly keep getting better and better!
So help us God. Amen.
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