The Office of Scholarships and Grants (OSG) under the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs (OVCSA) conducted the Annual Program Assessment and Organizational Design Foresight last Dec. 15-18 in Baguio City.

This is to propose a future-ready organizational structure in response to EO No. 01 issued by UP President Danilo L. Concepcion on Feb. 3, 2020, creating OVCSA and reorganizing the offices under it.

EO No. 01 tasks OSG with implementing and facilitating the various financial assistance programs, services, and activities of OVCSA.

Among these are Student Financial Assistance (SFA), Student Assistantship and Graduate Assistantship (SAGA), Private and Government Scholarships (PGS), and Student Loan programs.

The OSG team first visited the Office of the Chancellor of UP Baguio with Vice Chancellor for Administration Santos Jose O. Dacanay III, the officer in charge of the Office of the Chancellor during the time of the visit.

OSG discussed financial and learning assistance and programs with Liezel M. Magtoto, the UP Baguio Office of Student Affairs (OSA) director and Grace R. Tovera, the scholarships affairs officer.

They also exchanged information about implementing programs for students in a blended learning set-up, student and graduate assistantships, salary increases, collection of loans, quality assurance for scholarship programs, and the OSG’s organizational structure and funding.

The OSG team also visited Saint Louis University (SLU), where they discussed with Director Corazon B. Kawi of the SLU Guidance Center the transition of program implementation from purely online to hybrid set-up, services available for graduate students, quality management, scholarship programs, tracking of alumni, university innovations, and other career guidance programs.

On Dec. 16, the OSG conducted a seminar-workshop at the UPLB Baguio Satellite Station conference room in Brgy. Pacdal.

They tackled the streamlining and process harmonization of the OSG Citizens Charter with the help of Rosalyn Mabel M. Jimera of the Human Resources Development Office. Dr. Ariel L. Babierra, OSG project development associate (PDA), discussed quality assurance for student programs and services.

Jasmin G. Bayquen of UP Baguio discussed knowledge management and technical writing. Raphael Palacpac, the senior ICT associate of OSG, discussed financial module updates, program streamlining, and file server architecture and management.

On the third day, OSG Director Jickerson P. Lado discussed the current OSG organizational structure and the proposal to create the OSG charter. Rachelle Espinosa and Rolflen Ray C. Atienza, both OSG staff, hosted the event.

Unit representatives presented their workshop outputs, the OSG digital transformation, and the timeline for developing its financial module. They also discussed their proposal for their organizational structure, workforce, and budgetary requirements.

Dr. Janette H. Malata-Silva, VCSA; International Student Relations coordinator Ariane Joyce Hernandez-Siena; and two other OSG PDAs, Christian Paul Fang and Adriann Quilloy, also attended to workshop.

Other OSG coordinators who participated in the workshop were Ivy Mary U. Selarde for private and government scholarships, Ferdie C. Ocampo for SAGA, and Isabella Nadine L. Jimenez for the Grants-In-Aid Program. Raquel D. Velasco of Student Loans and Claims and the rest of the OSG staff were also in attendance.

The workshop outputs will be used in OSG’s bid to elevate its units to divisions with complementary plantilla items and an annual budget. OSG aims to improve the quality of its programs and services further to support UPLB’s Iskolars ng Bayan para sa Bayan. (Neisel Lyca R. Petiza)