Over a hundred UPLB teaching personnel attended the 2025 UPLB Faculty Conference, held on June 16 and 17, 2025, at The Glory Hotel in Clark, Pampanga. 

Themed “Innovations and Routes to a Future-Ready UPLB: Advancing Teaching, Research, and Community Impact,” the faculty conference was a venue for experts and resource persons to discuss programs and projects for future-proofing education.

In his opening remarks, Chancellor Jose V. Camacho, Jr., said that the UPLB Faculty Conference 2025 was framed as a space for critical engagement, openness, and honest dialogue to surface new directions and reaffirm shared values. 

Future readiness and the need for continuous and contextual improvement

Camacho discussed future readiness in higher education and called for integrating quality assurance, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ethical use of AI in curriculum and pedagogy, collaboration and shared leadership, and a grounded public service. 

According to Camacho, to be ‘future-ready’ means more than just upgrading tools or processes. It demands clarity of vision, agility in leadership, and a deep, shared commitment to relevance and excellence. “We are not just responding to the future—we are shaping it,” Camacho said.

Serving as this year’s keynote speaker was Dr. Maria Cynthia Rose B. Bautista, former vice president for academic affairs of UP. Bautista discussed quality assurance (QA) in higher education in the country as continuous and contextual improvement

Bautista differentiated principles-based vs. rules-based QA and discussed how to incorporate evaluation of AI tools and pedagogies, industry-academe partnerships, SDG-aligned curricula, research ethics, liberal education and critical thinking, service learning, and social entrepreneurship. She reflected on UP’s institutional history with QA. 

Incorporating SDGs and aligning AI with teaching philosophies

The faculty conference was organized into nine plenary sessions. 

Dr. Alyssa Peleo-Alampay, UP assistant vice president for academic affairs and QA, led the discussion in Plenary Session 1. Alampay talked about the need to integrate the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the curriculum. 

She discussed universities’ roles and their engagement in the SDGs. Alampay said that integration must be intentional and systemic, and that incorporating SDGs into university systems is not just about adding content—it requires a shift in values, pedagogy, and institutional culture. 

The second plenary session was conducted online. Adam Brimo, founder and group chief executive officer of Open Learning Limited in Sydney, Australia, reflected on the necessity of aligning artificial intelligence (AI) tools with teaching philosophies. 

Brimo discussed learning outcomes and constructive alignment, introduced courses from his company, and demonstrated how to enable educators to provide better feedback. He also demonstrated the creation of courses and module writing using his company’s artificial intelligence assistant. 

HEIs and social entrepreneurship

The third plenary session speaker, Dr. Marie Liza Dacanay, discussed social entrepreneurship, the role of higher educational institutions, and how social enterprises have significantly grown in the Philippines. 

Dacanay, president of the Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia of Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), said that UP’s role is to champion social entrepreneurship in education and training, research, development, and scaling up of social enterprises, create social enterprise policy and ecosystem development, and involvement in extension activities. 

“As the premier university of the country, UP could play an important role in pursuing social entrepreneurship as a pathway toward poverty history and charting a more sustainable future for Filipinos,” Dacanay said.

Service-learning programs, research ethics

Dr. Stephen Chan, the founding head of the Office of Service-Learning of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), discussed service-learning programs in higher education for plenary session 4. 

Chan shared with the audience about the institutionalization of service-learning programs at PolyU, how impact-driven design is essential, and the need for Asian leadership in the field.

The integration of research ethics in the curriculum was discussed by Dr. Heizel Manapat-Reyes in Plenary Session 5. 

Reyes, vice chancellor for academic affairs of UP Manila, said that there is a need to conduct research ethics not only to minimize research misconduct because it is the right thing to do. Reyes showed examples of research questions with ethical dimensions and the burden on the academic community. 

For Plenary Session 6, Dr. Leo DP Cubillan, UP vice president for academic affairs, revealed UP’s plans for a smart school, for UP Dasmariñas to be a global campus, and why UPLB is positioned as an anchor university for this new campus in its early stages, due to proximity and expertise. He encouraged the UPLB faculty to participate in developing interdisciplinary programs, smart classrooms, and global-ready curricula.

Industry-academe partnership, ethics, and empathy in the learning process

Plenary Session 7 was led by Dr. Ei Ming Wu, a senior managing advisor from Edu-Connect Southeast Asia Association. Wu, a visiting professor at the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP NCPAG) in Diliman, talked on best practices and strategies in industry-academe partnership. Wu strongly emphasized the importance of collaboration and partnership, especially between Taiwan and the Philippines. 

UP Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and Curriculum and Instruction Ma. Theresa T. Payongayong, talked about “Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn: Philosophy for Children (P4C) and the Changing Demands of Education.” 

In this eighth plenary session, Payongayong discussed P4C as a transformative approach that cultivates critical, reflective, and caring thinking from an early age—skills essential for navigating a complex and rapidly changing world. 

Payongayong covered the issues of ethics and empathy in the learning process and institutional implications for higher education. According to Payongayong, universities must foster environments that mirror the democratic ideals of P4C. Its faculty development and curriculum reform should include training in philosophical facilitation.

Lifelong learning

Dr. Greg T. Pawilen of the College of Human Ecology in UPLB and Dr. Angelica 0. Cortez of the College of Education of the Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology, members of the Commission on Higher Education Technical Working Group (CHED TWG), discussed creating micro-credential courses. 

Cortez said that CHED encourages HEIs to create and develop their micro-credential courses and units to serve the needs of the country’s learners.  

Cortez also presented information on learners’ interest in current micro credentials, the future of education trends, scope, coverage, purpose, and objective, a comparison between micro credentials policies across different countries, and the Philippine Qualifications Framework, which provides pathways and equivalencies for better access to qualifications. 

Pawilen, for his part, talked about the application process and the elements of micro-credentials. He discussed the general policies for micro-credentials development, delivery, and recognition, how they are developed and delivered, and the quality assurance and curriculum development process.  

Participation 

Marion Lux Y. Castro, director of the UPLB Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL); Dr. Charina Gracia B. Banaay, UPLB assistant to the vice chancellor for academic affairs; Anna Floresca F. Firmalino, director of the UPLB Office of International Linkages; and Dr. Edmund G. Centeno, dean of the College of Development Communication, served as moderators in between segments of plenary sessions, while Dr. Mark Oliver S. Llangco, chair of the UPLB Research Ethics Board, moderated the open forum. 

Aside from the teaching personnel, university executive committee members and invited resource persons, including UP President Angelo Jimenez, participated in the faculty conference. 

Jimenez expressed his support for the faculty conference in a video message presented on the second day. A pre-faculty conference was held on June 9 at the DL Umali Hall in UPLB for more faculty members to participate, especially among those who could not join the off-campus event. (KEAraguas)