A team of auditors from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) came to WVCST to conduct an evaluation in compliance with R.A. 10595 or is more popularly known as the Conversion of WVCST into a University.
The team headed by Dr. Catherine Q. Castañeda, Regional Director, CHED NCR and OIC of the OPS, stayed in Iloilo for the two day evaluation not only of the Main Campus, but of the four other Satellite Campuses as well.
The evaluation was composed of the review of the self evaluation reports, perusal of evidences and other supporting documents and interview with key informants. In addition, they also conducted an ocular evaluation of the school facilities including that of the Library.
In her speech, Dr. Catherine Castañeda said that the Commission on Higher Education is tasked to upgrade the standard of education in the colleges and universities to prepare for the first high school graduates of the K to 12 program.
“Quality assurance and typology are the key words now in higher education. We are moving away from what we were before which is not having enough number of years in basic education. Therefore, we are updating the whole education system of the country, from basic education to higher education. We also need to level the playing field which means whatever standards we have imposed on the private sector of our institutions in the country will now be applied also to the state colleges and universities as well as to local colleges.”
In leveling the playing field the CHED needs to see everything that needs to be looked into in terms of quality assurance. Unfortunately, Dr. Castañeda said that roughly 12% of the colleges and universities go through accreditation which means majority of the schools are not accredited yet. Because of this the Commission assigned different groups to work on the accreditation and the technical panel is working hard to improve the curriculum. A typology program is also to be followed. The panel should classify institutions of higher learning into universities, professional schools or colleges wherein universities of research types or teaching should have 40-50% teachers with PhD’s.
WVCST is the first institution to be evaluated by the CHED Committee in compliance with the Republic Act 10595- converting the college into a university. The Committee is responsible for the evaluation of the whole school by checking its developmental goals, the level that it has attained and would be helping the institution identify itself whether it should become a university, should remain a college or would become a university after a certain time.
