The Internationalization of CSCST

I witness job fairs going on and see a lot of applicants lining up under the sun, or when the weather is bad, braving the heavy rainfall. Job-hunting is highly competitive. It could be an uphill climb for many or one click of the fingers for some qualified few.

The guarantee of quality education is employment but many are employed as salesclerks, factory or rattan furniture workers, even if they are bachelor's degree holders. What a shame! But worse is when degree holders are unemployed. Statistics show that there is a remarkable turn over of graduates every year, adding to the list of unemployed.

What then is the secret of the trade? Fitting skills and knowledge? Accredited course in an accredited institution? These could be thel answers. If our children are schooled in an accredited institution or enrolled in an accredited course, it would be easier to look for a job after the graduation. They will have an edge over the other applicants.

On my opinion, parents need to send their children to an institution with a high standard - which would make students competitive in the employment arena. There are a lot of accredited colleges and universities in Cebu City. One of these is the Cebu State College of Science and Techonology. CSCST is now ISO certified, aside from having been accredited by the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines (AACCUP).

With pride, the Cebu State College of Science and Technology System is the first State College in Region 7 to have been granted the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Certification. The College System, that is composed of ten campuses across the Province of Cebu, namely: CSCST-Argao Campus, CSCST-Barili Campus, CSCST-Carmen Campus, CSCST-Cebu City Campus, CSCST-Daanbantayan Campus, CSCST-Danao City Campus, CSCST-Mandaue City Campus, CSCST-Moalboal Campus, CSCST-San Francisco, Camotes Campus and CSCST-Tuburan Campus, has been registered with the Anglo-Japanese Registrar's Incorporated with Registration No. AJA 03/6952.

The visionary man behind this accomplishment is no less than the SUC-President III of the CSCST System, Dr. Jose Sal Tan, with full support from his equally seasoned administrators - ever workaholic Vice-President Dr. Victor D. Villaganas, as well as the ten dynamic College Superintendents, the faculty and staff, and the students. Having realized President Tan's dream for CSCST, the ISO certification creates a good impact, a 'come all' to institutuion.

Accorded with this certification, the College System has the zeal for Quality Management System (QMS). This is not just the end-all, but also the be-all for CSCST's quality and excellence. Conversely, with the QMS inscription in the transcript of records and in some other pertinent documents, CSCST graduates will have a good chance for employment not nationally, but also globally.

CSCST's glocalized (global-local) fervor for quality management benchmarks its activities from various Quality Standards, such as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Standards of the United States of America, specifically on its Education Criteria for Performance Excellence and of the International Organization for Standardization based in Switzerland, some of CSCST's models for quality.

The College, being the standard bearer of ISO Certification, readily assesses its quality management system, operations and procedures in the delivery of services to the students using the requirements of ISO 9001:2000. Dr. Cecilio S. Baga is one of CSCST's internal quality auditors as certified by ABS Quality Evaluations, Inc., a world leader in independent, third party management system certification based in Houston, Texas, U.S.A., CSCST performs its own Internal Quality Audit through its trained Quality Management Representative (QMR) or Internal Quality Auditor (IQA). Through this "first party" Internal Quality Audit, the top management is informed and updated on its conformances and non-conformances with the standard and redirect its activities, operations, and procedures toward full compliance to the ISO 9001:2000 requirements.

Accreditation in a national level, with schemes oriented to the domestic higher education systems, is not new among Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the Philippines. State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), like CSCST, are accredited by the Accrediting Agency for Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines (AACCUP); while other HEIs are assessed by the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities - Commission on Accreditation (PACU-COA) and the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU), in the case of some privately owned higher education institutions.

But, is internationalization of higher education important? Certainly, it is because it has a beneficial effect on quality assurance. ISO therefore opens the avenue for CSCST to 'glocally' assure consumer-student protection. Evidently, CSCST's Special Education (SPED) Program, to mention only a few of its brandishing curricular programs is likewise, flourishing.

The decision is yours, think of the future of your children!