THE UNIVERSITY’S footprint has officially extended to Quezon City.
UST signed a memorandum of agreement with Angelicum College in Quezon City on June 29 as part of plans to oversee and integrate with other Dominican educational institutions in the Philippines.
Under the integration plan, Angelicum College will now be called UST Angelicum, with UST Rector Fr. Herminio Dagohoy, O.P. as its Rector and chief executive officer.
READ: Pontifical University to lead Dominican schools under integration plan
Dagohoy said UST would implement new policies and programs to upgrade Angelicum’s approach to education.
“While maintaining the same purpose of adopting a common name brand associated with academic excellence of Catholic education, [we continue] towards the formation of competent and compassionate individuals, committed to uphold, promote, and live by the beliefs, values and doctrines that the Church espouses,” Dagohoy said in a speech during the signing rites.
“Today we celebrate unity. Unity after all is not uniformity but harmony. It admits uniqueness and rejoices in difference. Angelican Thomasians, Thomasian Angelicans, it does not matter. Both are Tigers, only living in different lairs,” he added.
The Board of Trustees of Angelicum will be dissolved and a new one will be formed composed of 12 representatives from UST and three from Angelicum, said Fr. Napoleon Sipalay Jr., O.P., prior provincial of the Dominican Province of the Philippines.
“This is going to be supervised by the UST Board of Trustees so…most of the decisions will be made by the University of Santo Tomas representatives,” Sipalay told the Varsitarian.
Former Angelicum Rector Fr. Ferdinand Bautista, O.P. will serve as chief operating officer of UST Angelicum.
UST’s General Statues states that the Board of Trustees is the highest policy and decision-making body of the University, composed of friars from the Order of Preachers.
Members of Board of Trustees are elected by the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas, the community of Dominicans in UST.
Founded in 1972 by Fr. Rogelio Alarcón, O.P., Angelicum is known for its “Non-Grade System of Education,” which does not follow a comparative or competitive marking system and allows students to move through the curriculum in flexible arrangements.
Sipalay said Angelicum would still keep its signature “non-graded” approach to education.
“The direction is this will become UST, having a campus in Quezon City,” Sipalay said.
The integration involves supervising UST Angelicum in terms of curriculum, traditions and program offerings after these are finalized by the new Board of Trustees, Sipalay added.
Angelicum Iloilo, Aquinas U next
Sipalay also said the Dominican Province’s plan to integrate Angelicum School in Iloilo City with UST was underway.
Last December 2016, Dagohoy approved the renaming of Aquinas University of Legazpi to UST Legazpi after the decision was made by the UST Council of Regents.
Aquinas’ change of name is expected to take effect in Academic Year 2017 to 2018, after the Securities and Exchange Commission, the government agency that supervises corporations, approves it.
The pharmacy and medical technology programs of Aquinas will be supervised by the University. Aquinas however will maintain its fiscal independence and administration.
The integration will also include UST’s future satellite campuses in Santa Rosa, Laguna and in General Santos City. The integration plan was discussed in the 11th Chapter of the Dominican Province of the Philippines in October 2016.
