Pangasinan State University officials who qualified for SEARCA scholarship joined 23 other higher education institutions from six countries for the face-to-face sessions of the 2024 Leadership Development Program for HEIs in Southeast Asia on May 6-10, 2024 in Thailand.
SEARCA or the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture LDP-HEIs program aims to let the participants understand the role of HEIs and the inter-dependency with key stakeholders in a national, cross-national, and regional ecosystem, as well as, internalize the importance of aligning educational objectives to future needs.
The physical sessions primarily enabled the participants to pitch their Re-Entry Action Plan (REAP) and gain feedback for refinement from the LDP faculty led by Dr. N. Varaprasad, founder and partner at Singapore Education Consulting Group, and the program’s technical coordinator.
Kasetsart University (KU) President Dr. Chongrak Wachrinrat, welcomed the delegates and the secretariat on behalf of KU that co-hosted the event. The delegation also joined an industry visit to Betagro Public Company Limited and academic visits to Chulalongkorn University and KU.
The scholars who are also PSU officials were: OIC-Vice President for Quality Assurance Prof. Celeste T. Mercado, Campus Executive Director Dr. Liza L. Quimson of San Carlos City Campus and CED Dr. Renato L Salcedo of Lingayen Campus.
Raising the flag of PSU, the group presented their REAP titled Project D.A.L.U.YON. (Developing Academic and Administrative Leaders towards the University’s AmbisYON): HyFlex Training Program on Developing Leadership Competencies for Middle-Level Managers of Pangasinan State University.
Dr. N. Varaprasad commended the PSU project during the presentation and said: “I am super impressed with this project for middle managers.”
Consequently, the PSU delegates brought home several learnings and key take-aways during the week-long program.
“ You REAP what you SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), meaning do the SWOT analysis thoroughly first, and only them can you come up with a great re-entry action plan and we also have to consider rightsizing our targets so that it will be achievable based on our contents,’ said VP Mercado.
“Very substantial sharing from all resource speakers and participants. The experiences on leadership, change management, innovations and resilience are definitely worth the three-month SEARCA journey and we can’t wait to pass on these learnings to PSUnians,” Dr. Quimson quipped.
Dr. Salcedo remarked: “If we want our graduates to be relevant and employable, we must converse with the industry. The Leaders Development Program has showcased that more than the knowledge and skills, good attitude is equally or more sought after by employers. REAP pitching has unlocked more opportunities and avenues of improvement for middle managers of HEIs.”
University President Dr. Elbert M. Galas noted that SEARCA is one of the oldest among 26 specialist institutions of the SEAMEO and the participation of PSU will not only enhance the broader goals of advancing education but more so promote the vision to become an industry-driven state university by 2030.
Now on its sixth year, this LDP is composed of 33 participants from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam with a hybrid set-up from March to July 2024.
#TatakPSU
#SEARCAATTAIN #SEARCAUpdates #SDG4
