Dean Rowena L. Escolar Chua, PhD and Assoc. Prof. Mila Delia Llanes, PhD of the College of Nursing were named to the newly reconstituted Technical Evaluators for Nursing Education group of the Commission on Higher Education, which confirmed the appointment on January 21, 2022.
According to Dean Escolar Chua, being a Center of Excellence in Nursing Education, the “UST College of Nursing is in a very strategic position to contribute valuable insights to the programs and policies as set by the Commission on Higher Education.” Localizing her appointment to the current pandemic, Escolar Chua said that “with nurses being at the forefront of healthcare, it is crucial…to ensure that nursing education will adapt to the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and digital classroom.”
Meanwhile, Llanes recognizes that with the pandemic ushering in new ways of delivering instruction, the way this transition was navigation has substantially varied across nursing schools in the country. “Topmost in our minds is to maintain integrity and ethical standards in performing our duty to evaluate and monitor nursing programs offered by various tertiary institutions. Thus, we envision a team that is guided by integrity, truthfulness, transparency, and accountability.”
The technical evaluators, who will assess the quality of education provided by nursing schools in the country, compose one of the bodies of experts recently reconstituted by CHED. Meanwhile, the other body, the technical panel, deals more with policy formulation. According to CHED Administrative Order 03, Series of 2019, the group of Technical Evaluators consists of 10 members, with representatives from private higher education institutions with Autonomous or Deregulated Status, such as UST.
Escolar Chua is no stranger to quality assurance procedures, being one of the country’s assessors serving in the ASEAN University Network Quality Assurance (AUN-QA) group. Llanes is also a noted figure in the profession, having served as President of the Philippine Nurses Association. The College’s Nursing program is a Level IV program recognized by the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation, enjoys the Center of Excellence status from the Commission on Higher Education, and is certified by the AUN-QA.
