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    TO ACHIEVE AND MAINTAIN EXCELLENCE IS what Northern Christian College (NCC) President Caesar I. Agnir wants the institution to do.

    He emphasized this direction and thrust in his opening remarks during the seminar-workshop on Institutional Monitoring and Evaluation for Quality Assurance (IQuAME) in Higher Education held at NCC Media Center on September 3, 2007.

     To share their expertise on how NCC can achieve and maintain quality and excellence in higher education were Dr. Evelyn L. Pascua, director of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Region I, and her team composed of Dr. Caridad Abuan, Ms. Nympha Buenio and Ms. Celia Tactacan, who acted as facilitators.

    The seminar-workshop was intended to prepare the institution for self-evaluation and to determine whether it can meet the demand for quality higher education as  CHED wants all educational institutions. This self-evaluation approach is self-critical. This means that the institution itself will evaluate its performance through the faculty and staff of the College.This kind of approach will continually improve the educational quality of NCC by identifying its strengths and further enhance them and by fortifying the weaknesses in the delivery of quality education to the students. This   seminar- workshop was attended by faculty members and staff representing different departments who were especially chosen and who will become members of the evaluating committee. The faculty and staff were taught  how to prepare the Self-Evaluating Documents (SED) that will be submitted to CHED. The SED must be reflective and evaluative, and not merely descriptive. And more important are the supporting documents that will serve as evidences. 

    The IQuAME  focuses on five areas to be evaluated. During the seminar-workshop, the following were the chairmen for each area: Rev. Bucalen Saboy (governanceand management); Dr. Ernesto Ma. Cadiz (quality  of  teaching and research);  Ms.  Jane Gumiran (support for students); Dr. Virginia Duldulao (relations with the community); and Ms. Francis AdoracionRamos (management of resources).

    In her briefing,Dr. Pascua made it clear that  evaluating and monitoring are focused on learning outcomes and effectiveness, unlike the accreditation processes conducted by private agencies which are program-based. The outcomes  of  the former (CHED initiated evaluation)  should  focus on the institutional processes, institutional systems for the design and delivery programs/services, and institutional systems for internal and continuous review and evaluation of the performance of the educational programs/services.

    IQuAME is based on  Republic Act (RA) No. 7722 otherwise known as the “Higher Education Act of 1994”.  This Act gives power to the CHED to “monitor and evaluate performance of programs and institutions of higher learning for appropriate incentives…”  And according to CHED Chairman Romulo Neri, any institution (either public or private) can get 5 million pesos incentive if they will qualify in the IQuAME.

    No one is exempted from the IQuAME. All public and private educational institutions are subjected to IQuAME, but  priority is given to institutions that need help for deregulation. According to Dr. Pascua, IQuAME is not intended to compare institutions but to evaluate them on the basis of its culture, whether that culture is effective or not.

    According  to President Caesar I. Agnir, IQuAME is essential for NCC to qualify for Category A (t) which means that NCC will make teaching as its core business. “Technically, NCC might be in Category B at the moment, but that is only because we have  not undergone a formal comprehensive IQuAME evaluation. I am confident – and I am glad to have noted that an overwhelming majority of our faculty and staff  feel likewise -  that once we have complied adequately with the IQuAME, we will be formally categorized as A (t). Hopefully, soon thereafter, we will be deregulated as well”, the President exclaimed. - Giovanni Agustin