Central Mindanao University Academic Paradise of the South
Dr. Manuel T. Corpus, the founding president and executive director of the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges in the Philippines (AACCUP), shared the great transformation of SUCs over the years during the AACCUP Level IV Phase I accreditation at the Farmers Training Center, July 16.
Dr. Corpus, who has 32 years of experience as accreditor, shared how the SUCs transformed in terms of quality of cultural presentations, licensure examination performances, quality of programs, and improvement of campus infrastructures.
“In the past, I found out that SUCs are only on the top three when it comes to licensure examination,” he said “But now SUC as a group are now number one and CMU is contributing to the licensure examination performances.”
He also emphasized how teamwork was part of the transformation among SUCs. He said that teamwork is developed among faculty and staff and it has become a unifying force that brings success to the accreditation.
Dr. Corpus, who also celebrated his birthday in the university last July 15, said: “It is a happy recollection especially when you observe in your 85th birthday the development of accreditation, the quality of education of SUCs, which is not anymore behind groups of higher education institutions… when it comes to quality education.”
He said that he is hopeful that SUCs would continue to work for quality even without AACCUP.
“It is what I’m looking for in the next few years until 2025 when SUCs would already accredit their own programs—AACCUP will not do it anymore, but you will do it on your own, because by that time you will work for quality irrespective whether there is an external agency or not,” he said.
He also warned that passing the Level IV accreditation will be hard since Level IV programs are considered comparable to programs in top universities in the world.
Corpus revealed that as of 2017, AACCUP already accredited 4,040 programs and only 50 of those are Level IV coming only from seven SUCs.
In 2016, 92 programs were submitted for Level IV- Phase I accreditation and out of those only nine (9) programs passed.
“Huwag kayong magtaka, because Level IV programs are difficult to pass. We have to comply to the standards which are the standard requirements around the world,” Corpus said.
In order to pass the Level IV- Phase I accreditation all areas of the programs should have the grand mean of not less than 4.5. If the rating is less than 4.5 all areas will be revisited except those whose ratings are more than 4.5.
Corpus said that there is a very good chance that the programs subject for accreditation would pass the Level IV -Phase I accreditation since it had improvements since the last visit in 2014.
However, he warned the local task force that they should again hurdle Phase II after passing the Phase I.
“I hope that earning the institutional accreditation should be translated into your programs… I have great trust in your university, it is one of the best universities that we have in the Philippines,” he said. (IADalipe-Neri)
