The Asia-Pacific Accreditation and Certification Commission (APACC) welcomed six new members to the APACC pool of accreditors in the conclusion of the two-day international accreditors training held from October 14-15, 2014 at CPSC in Manila, Philippines.
Established by the Colombo Plan Staff College (CPSC) in 2004, the APACC is an accreditation body that promotes the exchange and recognition of standard practices in TVET across the Asia Pacific Region. Its criteria and processes could be used in setting comprehensive quality management systems and its effective implementation in TVET institutions.
The accreditors’ training was organized in order for the participants to understand accreditation as a tool for improving the quality of TVET institutions whereby an actual accreditation exercise is undertaken using APACC criteria.
Attendees of the international seminar include three members from various TVET organizations in the Philippines namely: (1) Ms. Sandy S. Montano, Corporate Secretary of the Technical and Vocational Schools of the Philippines (TEVSAPHIL) and Vice President for International Affairs, Community Health Education Emergency Rescue Services (CHEERS) and (2) Mr. Peter P. Negrido, Chief Operations Officer of the Private Sector Disaster Management Network (PSDMIN); (3) Mr. Marc B. Libo-on, Company President of PSDMIN and Operations Chief of Stout Con., Inc. In addition, two newly-appointed faculty members of the CPSC also participated in the program, namely, Dr. Zulkifli Zakaria, CPSC Short-Term Faculty Consultant from Malaysia and Dr. Govindarajan Kulanthaivel, CPSC Seconded Faculty Consultant from India. Upon successful participation and in fulfillment of the requirements the trainees will be taped for actual on-site APACC accreditation exercise in the future.
Furthermore, Engr. Md. Abdullah-Al-Mamun, the Bangladeshi intern under the Professional Internship Program for International Experience (PIPIE) was also included as one of the participants.
The program was supervised and coordinated by Dr. Hazrat Hussain, CPSC Faculty Consultant and APACC Accreditor on behalf of the CPSC Director General, Dr. Mohammad Naim Yaakub who was on an official visit to Germany at the time of the program. Professional expertise were also provided by Dr. Romulita Alto, former CPSC Faculty Consultant and APACC Accreditor.
Dr. Alto (center) and Dr. Hussain (right) with the training participants
During the two-day activity, the participants were given a comprehensive discussion on the seven criteria that APACC uses for the evaluation of applicant institutions: (1) Governance and Management, (2) Teaching and Learning, (3) Faculty and Staff, (4) Research and Development, (5) Extension, Consultancy and Linkages, (6) Resources and (7) Support to Students. They were also briefed on the activities being done before, during and after the onsite visit to the accredited institution. Furthermore, they were also briefed about the scoring system as well as their responsibilities and duties as APACC accreditors.
The closing ceremony was graced by the Chairperson of TEVSAPHIL, Dr. Col. Alejandro Teves Escaño. In his speech, he emphasized that the quality of technical and vocational schools should never be compromised among anything and there should be a motivation to look for possibilities of improvement. He also expressed his gratitude to CPSC for conducting this program, citing the partnership to be mutually beneficial in addressing and promoting quality assurance for the long-term improvement of TVET in the Philippines and other countries in the region.
