THE UNIVERSITY will offer a free one-month certificate course in Community Engagement and Organizing this academic year.
The UST Simbahayan and the UST Graduate School Center for Continuing Professional Education (CCPED) will run the course from October to November this year and from March to April 2019.
Mark Abenir, director of the UST Simbahayan, said the course will enhance the skills and knowledge of the participants in managing community development projects.
“In Higher Education Institutions (HEI), we have a three-fold task: instruction, research and extension or the community development services.
In big universities like UST, there is a devoted mechanism or structure for that, but not all HEIs have it,” Abenir told the Varsitarian in an interview.
The certificate course will be open to HEI faculty members or support staff working under their respective institutions, community development services.
Only 30 students per batch will be accommodated this academic year.
“The board of Community Development Society of the Philippines will be screening the applicants and will recommend to the UST Graduate School CCPED who shall be accepted,” Abenir said.
The course will cover four modules: Principles and Foundations of Community Engagement, Analyzing Social Structures in Communities, Tools and Procedure in Strengthening Community Cohesiveness and Designing a Community Engagement Model.
A fee amounting to P30,000 and miscellaneous expenses of this year’s pioneer batch will be covered by the Commission on Higher Education.
