by Christine Godinez Ortega, OPI and Allenn Lowaton, College of Engineering
The MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) has cemented its reputation as the leading institution of higher learning in Mindanao, and perhaps in the Visayas, as well.
To date, the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) has designated a total of seven Centers of Excellence (COE) and 11 Centers of Development (COD) for MSU-IIT.
The total of COEs and CODs makes IIT hold the record of the most number of COEs and CODs in Mindanao. A combination of excellence in instruction, facilities, research and publication, extension and linkages and the number of national board exam passers spelled the difference for MSU-IIT.
The new additions as COEs are in Mechanical Engineering and in Electronics Engineering; and, the newly-designated CODs are in Metallurgical Engineering, Civil Engineering, and in Electrical Engineering given in CMO no. 15 Series 2016, issued on March 22, 2016.
The Centers of Excellence (COEs) are in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics while the Centers of Development (COD) are in Information Technology, Marine Science, Statistics, Filipino, History, Sociology, Ceramics and Chemical Engineering identified in CMO no. 38 Series 2015, issued on December 23, 2015.
One other designated COE that had its validity extended by CHEd to the end of this month is the Teacher Education Program of the College of Education.
This means that after March 2016 when the validity of the Teacher Education Program as COE expires, the number of COEs for MSU-IIT is reduced to six. The rest of the COE and COD designated programs above are valid from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2018.
The highest number of COEs and CODs however, are from the College of Engineering.
CMO no. 17 series of 2015 (Revised Implementing Guidelines for the CHED COE and COD for Engineering Programs) released on April 23, 2015 stated that a COE for Engineering is a recognition awarded to a strong, outcomes-based undergraduate engineering program offered by a higher educational institution with research and extension capability, and preferably a sustainable graduate program.
The same CMO stated that the COD for Engineering is a recognition awarded to a good outcomes-based undergraduate engineering program offered by a higher educational institution with research and extension capability with a potential to become a COE.
Programs with a total score of 85 per cent or better are granted COE status while the COD status is awarded to programs with scores of at least 75 per cent but not over 85 per cent. Scores are based on analytic rubrics composed of institutional quality (45%), research and publications (30%), extension and linkages (20%) and institutional aspects (5%).
Amid the celebration over the total number of COEs and CODs for MSU-IIT, the Vice Chancellor for Planning and Development and former Dean of the COE Dr. Feliciano B. Alagao said, “After all the accolades and congratulations, the next thing will be the sustainability and proving our worth. It needs a concerted effort to retain the gains and further enhance them.”