The UPLB Graduate School (GS) and the Royal University of Agriculture (RUA) of Cambodia concluded on Nov. 26, the three-day “Workshop on Institutional Outcomes and Educational Philosophy” that both collaborated on in November.

The workshop was held as one of the activities under the Higher Education Improvement Project (HEIP), which is being funded by the World Bank.

On the last day of the workshop, the RUA team presented the institutional outcomes and educational philosophy statements that they drafted after Parts 1 and 2 of the workshop.

Part 1, held on Nov. 12, was the formal opening of the workshop, which was followed by plenary sessions. Part 2, held on Nov. 24 featured talks by resource speakers Dr. Ruth A. Ortega-Dela Cruz and Dr. Greg T. Pawilen.

Dr. Ortega-Dela Cruz, an associate professor at the College of Public Affairs and Development  and program chair of the Bachelor of Education Studies at the UP Open University talked about educational philosophy.

Dr. Pawilen, director of the Office for Institutional Development in Higher Education and a professor at the College of Human Ecology, on the other hand, discussed institutional outcomes.

At Day 3 of the workshop, the UPLB team, composed of Dr. Jomar F. Rabajante, GS dean; Dr. Ronilo Jose Flores, GS associate dean;  Dr. Anna Floresca Firmalino, director of the Office for Institutional Linkages; and Dr. Pawilen, helped the RUA participants refine their draft institutional outcomes and educational philosophy.

They assured their RUA counterparts headed by Prof. Dr. Seng Mom, vice rector of RUA, and Dr. Nguon Samnang, dean of RUA GS, of their support even after the workshop has ended.

Following the discussion of the outputs was the formal closing program where Chancellor Camacho and Prof. Dr. Seng Mom, vice rector of RUA, on behalf of RUA rector, His Excellency Dr. Ngo Bunthan, gave their congratulatory messages to the participants.

Chancellor Camacho expressed confidence that RUA will succeed in its journey toward enhancing the quality of their graduate programs and in upgrading their individual and institutional capacities.

Prof. Dr. Seng Mom expressed her sincere and deep appreciation for the technical inputs  made by the UPLB team and for walking the RUA team through the analysis and visioning exercise to develop their graduate school educational philosophy, institutional outcomes, and vision statement. She thanked the UPLB team for the “joyful and active process” despite the workshop being held virtually.

The workshop concluded with a synthesis given by Dr. Nguon Samnang, dean of the RUA Graduate School. (JMBo)