By Daniel P. Tapaoan, Jr.

As part of its pursuit for academic excellence, the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) has secured a Php 12 million fund to upgrade its biology laboratory at the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) this year. 

The upgrading of biology laboratory is among the MMSU’s big projects included in the Institutional Development and Innovation Grants for State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

CAS aims to purchase and install instruments, equipment and facilities for the laboratory to advance the instructional delivery by the Department of Biological Sciences and to keep up with the current research trends in the field.  

Particularly, the project will facilitate the academic and scholarly activities in BS and MS in Biology: botany, zoology, biotechnology, biocomputing, molecular biology, biotechnology, microbiology, plant and animal physiology, systematics, cell biology, histology, immunology, and genetics, among others. 

Dr. Doreen Domingo, department chair and project leader, said the project will primarily reinforce MMSU’s goal to become a Center of Excellence in biology education and to obtain Level IV Phase II accreditation for the BS in Biology program.

She added the laboratory will also be a venue for trainings and workshops for extension services, particularly for the University’s partner-agencies who may lack resources.

MMSU President Shirley C. Agrupis stressed the project will ultimately transform and advance the university’s strategies to deliver an internationally reputable undergraduate and graduate biology education.

She also noted that the development project will also support the MMSU’s Tuklas-Lunas Development Center (TLDC) and the National Bioenergy Research and Innovation Center (NBERIC).

The upgrading of the biology lab is also in support to the administration’s seven-point agenda, ACHIEVE, particularly on A (academic excellence).

Moreover, the project is in line with CHED Memorandum Order 49, series of 2017 (Policies, Standards and Guidelines for BS Bio curriculum).

Currently, MMSU is a CHED-recognized Center of Development in Biology Education and its BS Biology program is accredited by the Association of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines (AACCUP) as Level IV Phase 1 program. (StratCom)