The University of Santo Tomas now enjoys the coveted Institutional Certification from the ASEAN University Network – Quality Assurance (AUN-QA) group, a testament to quality education and processes UST has.
The plum makes UST the second in the Philippines to receive the recognition, and the eighth in the ASEAN region, where 120 institutions are AUN-QA members / associate members. UST is the first associate member to receive the Institutional Certification.
The news, communicated to the Office of the Rector on January 13, 2020, revealed that UST passed in all four areas assessed by AUN-QA, namely Strategic Quality Assurance, Systemic Quality Assurance, Functional Quality Assurance, and Results.
The assessment visit took place from October 21-25, 2019, in which a team of six assessors from the ASEAN regions looked at the aforementioned aspects and validated the claims in the Self-Assessment Reports vis-a-vis observed practices, existing supporting documents, and interviews with stakeholders.
In his final address to University administrators on January 15, former Rector fr. Herminio V. Dagohoy, O.P., PhD happily broke the news and called on the community to study the findings well and act on the recommendations to further improve the university’s processes.
According to Prof. Clarita D. Carillo, PhD, Assistant to the Rector for Planning and Quality Management and lead official in this endeavor, the Institutional Assessment “will certainly enhance further the University’s reputation, strengthening its position among higher education institutions in the ASEAN region.” Furthermore, Carillo added that “the AUN-QA quality stamp is a quality assurance symbol easily recognized and understood by other HEIs in the region. To be the 8th institution to have been…certified facilitates the opening of more doors of opportunities for UST in terms of internationalization, networking, academic and research collaboration, faculty and student exchange, student internship, and many others. It also heightens our participation in the educational aspect of the ASEAN integration.”
