By Stewart C. Ocampo

Having carved its stature as an emerging premier Philippine university, the Mariano Marcos State University has started to set in stone and exhibit its notable accomplishments - an imprint of its brimming success and a reminder to achieving more. 

Located at the Ferdinand E. Marcos Hall, an Achievement Wall was unveiled today, January 18. It is a six (6) by three (3)-meter wooden display panel that features the major accolades received by MMSU in the recent years. 

“These are the results of blood, sweat, and tears of the ACHIEVE Team,” remarked University President Shirley C. Agrupis, having led the unveiling of the Wall this afternoon.

Commission on Higher Education Chairperson J. Prospero E. De Vera III and other members of the university Board of Regents were one of the first guests to marvel at the wall, having attended the unveiling ceremony.  

PSCA revealed to them, along with other MMSU constituents, MMSU’s 19 significant milestones included on the wall. These include its emergence as second among Philippine state universities and 401st-600th in the world in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2022; its ranking 356^th in the world and fifth in the country in the 2022 edition of the GreenMetric World University Rankings (UIGWUR); and its being sixth place in the country and ranked 101–200 worldwide for World’s Universities with Real Impact (WURI), having been cited as one of top schools in three impact categories. 

Additionally, the Achievement Wall showcases MMSU’s recognitions during CHED’s 2022 ASEAN Philippine Higher Education Internationalization Awards: the Internationalization Leadership Award given to Dr. Agrupis, and the university’s nomination for the Global Citizenship Award and the Outstanding Contribution to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Award. 

The Wall also displays MMSU as a Level IV state university, an ISO 9001:2015 certified institution, a university with a 3 Quacquarelli Symonds Stars rating, and a national university for agriculture and fisheries education, a CHED Center of Excellence for Teacher Education, and Center of Development in Agriculture, Biology, Forestry, and Information Technology. 

In relation, the following also made it to the Wall: its Level III institutional accreditation from the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines, Inc. (AACCUP) in 2021, with its distinction as the first Philippine SUC to be institutionally recognized using the outcomes-based education instrument. The university was also honored having landed as rank four for having the highest percentage of accredited programs among all accreditable programs from 1992 to 2019; third for having the most Level III programs accredited in 2019; third for having the most improved internal quality assurance unit in 2019; and fifth for having the most Level III programs accredited in 2020.

Finally, other badges to the Wall are MMSU’s consistent stellar performance in professional licensure exams and its membership to ProSPER.Net, an association of top universities in Asia-Pacific.

“This Achievement Wall is meant to inspire us to work even harder to contribute to national development,” Dr. Agrupis added.

In his message, CHED Chairperson De Vera lauded the university for this initiative. He further challenged the MMSU community “to pivot to the ASEAN network when it comes to internationalization, because we don’t want to neglect the competence of universities in this region.” It could be remembered that the Philippine higher education led by De Vera has strongly forged linkages with universities and agencies in Canada, Europe, and UK in the past years.

The unveiling ceremony of the university’s Achievement Wall is one of the activities and an important highlight of this year’s foundation anniversary celebration. The Office for Strategic Communication headed by Prof. Herdy L. Yumul spearheaded putting it up, in coordination with the university’s Physical Planning and Development Office. (HLY/JVBT, StratCom)