SHE WILL serve for another four years.

The Board of Regents in its special meeting on March 28 at the CHED Central Office in Pasig City reappointed Dr. Miriam E. Pascua, sixth MMSU president, to serve for another term of four years starting June 1 this year until May 31, 2011.
She assumed as sixth president of MMSU in May 2005 after a search for MMSU presidency organized by CHED.  She served the last two remaining years of then President Saturnino M. Ocampo Jr. who had to go to CHED after being appointed commissioner by Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

During the regular Monday flag raising ceremony, April 2, Dr. Pascua thanked the entire university family for having supported her in the last two years of her administration saying that “without you, I would not have made it.”  She said everybody has been working as a team and solicited anew everyone’s full support for her  another four years of leading the university.

In an interview, she said she shares the honor with the MMSU family and vowed to keep on innovating.  She said that she will focus the next four years of her administration on strengthening information technology with the possible creation of an Institute of Information Technology consolidating manpower and other resources of the Information and Communication Training Center, the departments of computer science and computer engineering, the Management Information Service, and the Agriculture and Fisheries Research and Development Information System project.

President Pascua added that she will also work out for the offering of medicine in the university.  What will be unique with the course, she said, is that it will try to inculcate in the students a strong sense of nationalism where they will be encouraged to serve the country.  She said there has been a dearth of Filipino doctors because students flock to nursing due to the high demand of the profession abroad. 

She said she will also work out for the offering of law at MMSU.

Dr. Pascua added she will move for the finalization of the university’s Strategic Plan so that there is a blue print of the actions to be undertaken by the university in the coming years. “We must set targets so that we will be able to assess later if we are really into achieving our targets,” she asserted.

In her two years, albeit short, at the helm of the university, she made numerous accomplishments to better improve the university’s services to its clientele and strengthen its record as one of the best universities in the country today.

Accreditation of academic programs

As MMSU president, she bent on pursuing accreditation of academic programs. As such, 18 programs were awarded different accreditation levels by the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines.  Notable among these was the accreditation to Level III (Accredited) status of the programs in agriculture and forestry which made the university the only SUC in the country to have attained such accreditation level for the said programs.  She believed that subjecting the university’s offerings to accreditation gives an idea on how MMSU is faring in terms of achieving its objectives and of the quality of education it is giving its students compared to other institutions offering similar programs. Besides, this also prepares MMSU’s application for more centers of excellence or development.

Improvement of facilities and services

She improved remarkably facilities and services to students by opening nursery and kindergarten classes in the Batac campus and offering additional classes for the same in the Laoag campus to serve as laboratory classes for teacher education students majoring in early childhood education.  She also initiated the conduct of job fairs to provide ready employment for graduating students and unemployed alumni.

President Pascua, likewise, moved for the offering of more scholarship opportunities to students with the implementation of the Financial Assistance to Promote Agriculture, Fisheries, and Related Courses and Entrepreneurship which offers, with the help of local government units, free tuition and other fees and other benefits to deserving students.
During her term, new services at the University Clinic were made available. Recently, the BOR approved the purchase of an ambulance for the university to offer even better health care for all MMSU constituents.
Seventy computer sets were purchased for the Information and Communication Training Center to provide students more equipment for their laboratory needs. Also, access to the Internet was improved with the establishment of a wireless bridge at the administration building.

She futrther moved for the institutionalization of an incentive scheme for athletes and cultural troupe members who win in regional and national competitions.

More than a year ago, she approved the provision of two shuttle buses for employees coming from the northern and southern towns of Ilocos Norte.

Comprehensive review of curricular offerings

Dr. Pascua created an Instruction Directorate to take charge of curriculum development and evaluation, instructional materials development, and accreditation of programs and other academic-related concerns.  She also initiated the unification of General Education courses; revised curricular programs to suit to the needs of the present time; offered new programs; and reviewed and refined academic policies and guidelines.
Development of faculty and staff

She revived the University Manpower Development Program which resulted in the improvement of the professional advancement of faculty and staff.  During her term, 19 faculty members and three non-teaching personnel were sent for advance degrees and their stipend were increased from P4,000 to P5,000 monthly.  On the other hand, a big number of others were permitted to attend seminars, trainings, and conferences here and even abroad.  She did all of this to emphasize the primacy of faculty and staff which she considers as the most important resources of the university.

Expansion of extension sharing and resources

President Pascua believed that effective partnership with government and academic institutions here and abroad is one of the university’s strategies for success.  To realize this goal, she started linking with several institutions for exchange of faculty, staff, and students for purposes of teaching, research, consultancy, and training.

Among these institutions are: National Association for Early Childhood Education in Taiwan, Kyoto University in Japan, National University of Taipei, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, University of Hawaii-College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii-Kapi’olani Community College, and University of Hawaii-Center for Philippine Studies.

She recently created the Office for International Programs under the External Affairs and Partnership Directorate to take care of all international linkages of the university.

She strengthened resource generation in the university as evidenced by a number of grants, most of which coming from the Commission on Higher Education and from NEDA, DA-BAR, Kyoto University,  and from the alumni.

Fiscal budgeting

Dr. Pascua implemented in all academic units DBM-CHED Joint Circuar No. 2, s. 2004 or the Application of Normative Funding in the Allocation of Expenditures to SUCs, hence the expenditure of the collection of tuition and fiduciary fees was in accordance with the intended items.

She also created the Energy Management Committee to oversee the implementation of energy conservation policies. With strict adherence to the provisions of Administrative Order 103 and the institutionalization of efficient cost-cutting strategies, P13, 248, 533.33 was saved from Fund 101.  This was given as employees’ Amelioration and Productivity Enhancement Pay for 2006.  Furthermore, P2, 812,125 was saved from Fund 164 which was used to pay for the CNA benefit of employees.  Out of the 2005 savings, P1.8M was also used to pay GSIS the arrears in government counterpart. Per initiatives of the Legal Counsel and the University Manpower Development Program,  additional revenues amounting to P187,377.04 was further collected from delinquent scholars as payment in lieu of return service.

Generation of more income

She created a Business Directorate to consolidate the management of all income-generating projects.  As such, the university generated P5, 842,179.08 net income which was three times higher than that of preceding years’ and the highest since the IGPs’ existence.

She, likewise, established a Marketing Center; constructed a cook area and repaired the drainage system of the Food Service building; stocked tilapia in seven ponds in Sarnap Lake, one pond in Nagbacsan, and in  all the ponds in the main campus; initiated the on-going construction of the Multi-Purpose Function Hall; improved the garment production area of College of Industrial Technology; intensified banana production utilizing the coconut grove; purchased two additional vehicles for the Food Service Unit and for the Marketing Center; and purchased additional 1,500 heads of layers to intensify egg production of the Poultry Project.

More responsive, relevant, and scholarly R&D activities

Under her term, 108 General Appropriations Act (GAA)-funded researchers in agriculture, forestry, industry and energy, fisheries, health, tourism, small and medium enterprises, gender and development, and education while seven externally funded projects were implemented. 

A number of papers were presented and reviewed in agency in-house and commodity reviews and selected for presentation in regional, national, and international R&D gatherings.  Several of these papers garnered awards that added glory to the university.  Recently, PCIERD gave the “Kabalikat” Award to MMSU for for its invaluable support and contribution to science and technology (S&T) in the country by undertaking research and development and ably leading the Ilocos Consortium for R&D in Industry and Energy as the extension arm of PCIERD in the region to promote awareness on the use of S&T for productivity and competitiveness.

Improvement of physical facilities

President Pascua made a lot of improvement in the university’s physical facilities as she vowed in her investiture in 2005 to provide students instructional facilities that would not allow them and their teachers to be left behind on the use of modern equipment.

She initiated the purchase of additional equipment and upgrading of existing ones; the provision/repair of classrooms, laboratory rooms, and comfort rooms; the improvement/repair of student-dormitories and staff housing; the repainting of college buildings; the air-conditioning and provision of electric fans in class/faculty rooms; and a lot of other works that could only prove her concern for the overall welfare of faculty, staff, and students.

Just, fair, and honest governance

She strictly adhered to the provisions of RA 9184 or the Government Procurement Act. She held dialogs with student-leaders; and reviewed and implemented the revised incentive scheme for Income Generating Project staff.

She received COA’s audit certificate indicating that “in all material aspects, except for the unrecorded donated  buildings of undetermined amount and the understatement of the agricultural supplies and medicines inventory, the financial position and the university’s cash flows for 2006 was in accordance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations and in  conformity with applicable and generally accepted state accounting principles.”

She also implemented the Civil Service Commission’s and CHED’s minimum educational qualification for college teaching.

Other accomplishments

In the later years of her two-year stint as president, the university was number four top performing school in elementary education and number six in secondary education based on LET results in 2006.  Likewise, MMSU was cited number one top performing school of  physical therapy with four graduates landing on the top three spots and one occupying the seventh slot based on the  2007 PT Exam. MMSU’s passing rate was 75 percent while the national passing rate was only 38.6 percent.

Moreover, the university was recognized as number two top performing school of electrical engineering with 93 percent passing rate against the 51.1 percent national passing record in the September 2005 board exam.  The university was number four performing school of civil engineering with 69 percent passing rate in the May 2005 licensure examination.

Furthermore, three examinees in the nurse licensure examination placed second, third, and ninth in the December 2005 licensure examination.

MMSU’s passing rate in all other board exams, except in agriculture and agricultural engineering, was way above national passing records.