by Michelle Jeanne C. Caracut, OPI with report from Jun Karren V. Caparoso, CEd
Three of the Institute’s colleges, the College of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS), College of Business Administration and Accountancy (CBAA), and the College of Education (CEd) have geared up for the accreditation of their curricular programs by the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines (AACCUP), Inc.. The accreditors will also evaluate the colleges’ classrooms and other facilities. The survey visit is on September 14-18, 2015.
The Program of Accreditation
The preparations for accreditation have been a concerted effort between the Administration, faculty and staff, the students through their Executive Councils, and the parents of students.
As defined by AACCUP, accreditation is a non-governmental process by which an institution at the tertiary level evaluates its educational activities, in whole or in part, and seeks an independent judgment to confirm that it substantially achieves its objectives, and is generally equal in quality to comparable institutions. Evaluation is based on standards of the accrediting agency, which are normally higher than those set by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and other appropriate agencies such as the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).
CASS is currently applying for Level IV accreditation of its Arts and Social Sciences programs, namely: AB English, AB Filipino, AB History, AB Political Science, and AB Sociology, and one science program, BS Psychology.
CBAA’s BS Accountancy, on the other hand, will be evaluated for Level III, Phase 1 according to CBAA’s Pamela Resurrecion while CEd’s Secondary Teacher Education and Technician Teacher Education programs will be evaluated for Level IV, and Elementary Teacher Education program for Level III, Phase 1. These programs will be assessed in ten areas which include Mission, Goals and Objectives, Faculty, Curriculum and Instruction, Students, Research, Extension and Community Involvement, Library, Physical Facilities, Laboratories, and Administration.
Benefits of Accreditation
If the programs under evaluation pass the quality standards of the accrediting body, this may entitle the colleges to an institutional accreditation status and may receive potential incentives such as having a rational basis for budgetary requests and for normative financing, have the factor in the selection of Center of Excellence (COE) and Center of Development (COD), the requirement for the conversion of a college to a university, and in assessing the appointment or transfer of an SUC President, for SUCs leveling, and for matching-fund schemes where requirements for accreditation are matched with funds from CHED.
In addition, the Level III status granted by AACCUP to CEd’s Bachelor of Secondary Education and BS Industrial Education programs and Level II status of the BEED program propelled the CEd to be recognized as CHED Center of Excellence for Teacher Education in 2010.
Internal Accreditation
Before the survey visit on September 14-18, the three colleges underwent a mock accreditation in October 2014 and in September this year. The Institute’s AACCUP accreditors were invited to review and evaluate the documents of the ten areas that are used in the assessment of the programs. The mock accreditation was held to assess the colleges’ readiness for accreditation.
In region X, MSU-IIT is one of seven State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) institutional members of AACCUP.
Topics : Accreditation CHED AACCUP