The Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Prof. Philipina A. Marcelo, PhD, participated in the “Regional Conference on Quality Assurance of Higher Education in Asia-Pacific” held on 15-16 June 2017 in Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China. The Conference was jointly organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok, Thailand and the Section of Higher Education, UNESCO in Paris, in collaboration with the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO and the UNESCO International Centre for Higher Education Innovation (ICHEI) based in Shenzhen, P. R. China.
The Conference is one of the regional preparatory conferences for the International Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Paris, France in early 2018, which is being organized by UNESCO. Its main objective is to take stock of innovative QA policies and practices, identify gaps and challenges, and explore common agendas for future collaboration in the Asia-Pacific region. It was attended by government officials, QA practitioners and researchers from member states in the Asia-Pacific region, representatives from international and national professional bodies, international organizations and NGOs, and other higher education (HE) stakeholders. In the two-day Conference, country case study reports on QA in HE in Asia-Pacific region were collected, including that of the Philippines. Based on these reports, a regional synthesis report was drafted to be submitted to the UNESCO 2018 International Conference on QA in HE in Paris. This was the basis of the preliminary “Shenzhen Statement”, which will be further evaluated to formulate the final statement on quality and inclusive higher education in Asia and the Pacific.
With recommendation from the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, Prof. Clarita D. L. Carillo, PhD, Dean Marcelo was invited by UNESCO to join the Philippine delegation to the Conference, which was headed by Dr. Mary Sylvette T. Gunigundo, the Chief of the Quality Assurance Division of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). In her interactions with Conference organizers and participants, Dean Marcelo shared the experience of the Faculty of Engineering in shifting from teacher-centered to learner-centered approach in teaching-learning, and monitoring and measuring quality through Outcomes-Based QA. She also volunteered to showcase the good practices of UST in Institutional QA through exhibits in the Conference Gallery Walk. UST was the only Philippine university that was showcased in the Gallery Walk.
