ELMER A. IRENE, Ed.D.
About 54th ASEAN Celebration
As the month of August started, Samar State University (SSU) affirms its participation and full support to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Month 2021 celebration through a Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony on August 6 (21).
The ASEAN aims to promote economic growth, social progress, and cultural development in the Southeast Asian region through multilateral cooperation and this year’s celebration bears the theme “We Care, We Prepare, We Prosper” chaired by Brunei Darussalam.
Key officials of SSU led by the University President, Dr. Marilyn D. Cardoso together with the Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Felisa E. Gomba; Vice President for Research and Extension Services, Dr. Ronald L. Orale; Vice President for Administration and Finance, Dr. Lydia A. Gonzales; and Vice President for Student Affairs and Services, Engr. Ma. Lourdes P. Amante cut the ribbon marking the University’s launching of the ASEAN month which was streamed live on Facebook and reached 3,428 views.
As part of the celebration, a Memorandum of Agreement signing was done for the Master’s Degree of Education in English Language Teaching (MEELT), equivalent to Master of Education (MAED), Twinning Program between Tra Vinh University, Vietnam and Samar State University, Philippines, the “Anong Kwentong ASEAN Mo” Contest was launched, and the 1st IZN Award Trophy was turned over to the Office of the International Affairs headed by its Director, Dr. Elmer A. Irene.
A lot of activities are already lined up by the University as it celebrates with the world the ASEAN Month 2021.
A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signing was held between Samar State University (SSU), Philippines and Tra Vinh University (TVU), Vietnam on August 5, (21) for the Master’s Degree of Education in English Language Teaching (MEELT)), equivalent to Master of Education (MAED), twinning program starting School Year 2021-2022.
MEELT would be led and awarded by SSU, supported by TVU, and delivered online through a platform developed by both Universities. Consequently, graduate students of MEELT may take another 3 courses (12 credits) offered by TVU and shall receive a Master’s Degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MTESOL) once completed which would be awarded by the same university.
Attended by key officials, professors, and staff from the two organizations, the twinning program is primarily aimed to meet the increasing need for high quality human resources for sustainable environment management.
SSU and TVU had their first engagement through a research collaborative activity titled, 1st VietPhil Research Forum in 2019 at Tra Vinh University, Tra Vinh City, Tra Vinh Province, Vietnam which was attended by five faculty members of the University.
As SSU continues to tread the internationalization roadmap, this milestone on inking the 1st twinning program is surely a strong foundation of becoming one of the top 200 universities in Asia by 2040 and attaining the university world ranking in the near future.
2021 SSU ASEAN Celebration
CATBALOGAN CITY – Prof. Jhonil C. Bajado, Head of the Museum and Archives, challenged the personnel of Samar State University (SSU) to “start thinking ASEAN” during the Opening Ceremony of the 2021 ASEAN Virtual Celebration on August 18 (21) via Zoom and Facebook Live Stream.
Prof. Bajado, who served as the Keynote Speaker of the event, emphasized that we need to truly understand what it means to be ‘ASEAN people’.
He tackled on the history of ASEAN, the three pillars of creating genuine ASEAN community, the role of educators in consolidating people-centered ASEAN community, and the challenge to the SSU community.
“The challenge to the SSU community is to embrace a clear and consistent direction in integrating the vision of the ASEAN and its member-nations to work on the implementation inspite of the challenges even now with this pandemic, facilitate the mobility of teachers and teacher-educators within the region, support ASEAN community-building and achievement of the UN 2020 SDGs, and enhance quality and respect for the teaching profession in the ASEAN region”, he stated.
Prof. Bajado mentioned that the University is already doing ways to achieve the objectives of the ASEAN by partnering with other universities or other ASEAN countries, inking agreements for students and faculty mobility, and banking on campus tourism to give a picture of student life and campus culture and build an attractive University identity.
In closing, Prof. Bajado said that the goal can only be achieved through unity and knowing what ASEAN means.
“When asked what ASEAN means to us, start by thinking. When we think of SSU community, think of ASEAN community, and think of the rest of the humanity,” he concluded.
The celebration continued until August 20 (21) on the Orientation of QS Star Rating.
QS Stars Orientation
Still part of the 2021 Virtual ASEAN Celebration, Samar State University (SSU) faculty and staff attended the Orientation on QS Star Preparation and Audit via Zoom on August 19-20 (21) as part of the ways forward toward acquiring Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Stars Rating.
QS Stars Rating is a rating system that provides a detailed look at an institution, enabling the public to identify which universities are the best in specific topics, such as program strength, facilities, graduate employability, social responsibility, and inclusiveness.
This was further elaborated by speakers of the two-day session, Dr. Adrian P. Ybañez (Vice President for Research and Development, Cebu Technological University [CTU]), and Mr. E Way Chong (QS Regional Director of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Philippines).
The University of Eastern Philippines (UEP), Leyte Normal University (LNU), and Northwest Samar State University (NWSSU) were also invited to join the orientation. In response, the University Presidents of the said institutions expressed their appreciation to the University headed by to Dr. Marilyn D. Cardoso for “generally sharing the platform” to them.
Preparing and planning to submit for the QS Star Rating is clearly on the roadmap of the University with its chief aim of becoming one of the Top 200 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Asia by 2040.
Regional ASEAN contests
Three (3) students from the College of Education (COEd) represented Samar State University (SSU) on various contests held in celebration of the 2021 ASEAN Month on (date).
As the Philippine Higher Education Sector joined the 54th Founding Anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Commission on Higher Education Regional Office VIII in partnership with the Council of the Deans and Educators in Business (CODEB-8) and the Council of Economics Educators in Business – Region 8 (CECON) organized the Essay Writing, Spoken Word Poetry, and Poster Making Contests.
Mr. Marlon Dacanay, Ms. Rosela Tuting, and Ms. Nipthali Garnica served as participants in the virtual contests on Spoken Word, Essay, and Poster Making respectively.
Mentoring the students throughout the preparation and actual performance were their COEd instructors, Mr. Jeff Harold B. Uy, Ms. Mra. Lyme F. Correche, and Mrs. Frene T. Cañas who served as their coaches.
The student-representatives and their coaches were awarded with Certificates of Participation during the Awarding and Closing Ceremony on August 31 (21)
