THE UNIVERSITY will be assessed by the Asean University Network-Quality Assurance (AUN-QA) this week, as it seeks to maintain the accreditation it first earned in 2019.
Why it matters: AUN-QA will measure UST against international standards of quality education. Assessors from AUN-QA are set to visit the University from Oct. 6 to Oct. 10 for the regional body’s 17th institutional assessment.
- UST formally received the quality seal in 2020 after passing four key areas: strategic QA, systemic QA, functional QA, and results. It expired in 2024.
- It is the first associate member of AUN-QA and the eighth Asean university to earn the institutional certification.
- 18 academic programs in UST, including accountancy, biology, psychology, journalism, communication, and tourism and hospitality management, have since been assessed based on an outcomes-based framework.
Tough criteria: According to AUN-QA’s website, the institutional-level assessment will follow the third version of the AUN-QA scheme, which is composed of three areas: strategic QA, systemic QA, and results.
- Strategic QA refers to governance, leadership, planning, human resources, financial resources, external relations, and policies for education, research and service.
- Systemic QA is composed of the internal and external quality assurance systems.
- These are further divided into 15 criteria and 60 sub-criteria and assessed based on a seven-point scale.
- The October 2019 assessment, done a few months before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, was carried out using Version 2 of the AUN-QA assessment scheme and involved 25 criteria and 111 sub-criteria.
Assessors: Eight assessors at the institutional level, all professors or doctorate degree holders, come from different Asean universities. There are three lead assessors and five assessors.
- Yu Un Oppusunggu of University of Indonesia will serve as the chief of the assessment panel and lead assessor. He will be accompanied by Yahaya Md. Sam of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Nguyen Huy Phuc of Industrial University of Ho Chi MInh City, focusing on strategic QA criteria.
- Ornsiri Cheunsuang of Chulalongkorn University in Thailand is the co-chief and also a lead assessor. He will be accompanied by Wan Ahmad Kamil Mahmood of Universiti Sains Malaysia and Satria Bijaksana of Institut Teknologi Bandung in Indonesia, who will also cover strategic QA criteria.
- Eric Wibisono of Universitas Surabaya in Indonesia, also one of the lead assessors, will be joined by Tan Chin Hon of National University of Singapore, focusing on systemic QA.
Key report: The key document submitted by UST is its self-assessment report, where it details its compliance with all the criteria to be assessed during the visit.
- The AUN-QA panel will hold meetings with University officials, faculty, students, and support staff this week to verify the report.
Rating: A seven-point scale is used for program- and institutional-level assessment, and will be the basis of the assessors in scoring each criterion.
- A score of seven or “excellent” is the highest. This means an institution is considered as an example of world-class practice.
- A score of one or “absolutely inadequate” is lowest, where quality assurance practice is not implemented.
- The University must receive a rating of at least four to achieve the AUN-QA certificate, which will be valid for five years.
Eligibility: Universities eligible to be assessed under AUN-QA must be a member-university or an associate member-university and have at least five study programs assessed and certified by the AUN-QA network.
- AUN has only three core Philippine universities: De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila University, and the University of the Philippines.
- UST became an associate member of AUN in 2016.
- AUN-QA has assessed 64 member-universities in the Philippines. It has 76 members in the country.
AUN history: Established in 1998, the AUN-QA Network aims to raise the quality of higher education in Asean and collaborate with regional and international bodies.
- In their 1992 summit, leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) agreed to strengthen university education. Three years later, the AUN charter was signed by Asean education ministers.
- The AUN secretariat is hosted by Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, Thailand’s top university and ranked No. 221 in the QS world tally.
