UST’s Intercultural Studies (CIS) placed second runner-up and received P100,000 at the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) for Best Higher Educational Institute Research Program in the National Capital Region (NCR) last Jan. 25, at the Philippine International Convention Center.
“Among the entries, UST is the only institution that can boast a research center that deals with intercultural studies,” Ched-NCR office Director Dr. Amelia Biglete told the Varsitarian.
For her part, CIS Director Cynthia Luz Rivera said it was the research centers uniqueness and hard work that lead to the award. “Most of the other research centers dwelled on technology and poverty,” Rivera said. “The award was based on our data from the last five years which includes research on architecture, music, arts and culture.”
In addition, Rivera encouraged other UST research centers to participate in research competitions in order to share the University’s scholarly works. “What makes a university is research,” Rivera said. “Excellence is not proclaimed by lonesome, it is encouraged by peers. We should share what we had gathered and in turn the merits we get confirm how effective our infrastructure on research works.”
Aside from the CIS, the Social Research Center was also nominated under the category.The CIS had its first grant acquisition in 1995 and has been given a number of funding including the Spanish grant of the Ministry of Education in Spain. The research center also manages and maintains the Chiang Ching-kuo Memorial and Cultural Center and functions as the custodian of a collection of rare books in the Asian Studies and numerous artifacts of Chinese culture.
