Investiture Speech
Good afternoon.
Thank you for being here on this historic day of celebrating the passage in leadership at Philippine Normal University as I publicly declare my commitment to the ideals of the university, my alma mater and for supporting me in traversing the roadmap of PNU as The National Center Teacher for Education.
First, I would like to thank the members of the Board of Regents, with the leadership of Hon. Patricia B. Licuanan for the very important work that you do for the Philippine Normal University. Your presence today is an evidence of your continued commitment to the mandates of PNU.
Let me also thank my management team, the vice presidents and the deans of the different colleges and the campus directors - for taking lead in this celebration. Allow me to thank you for the special arrangements you made to ensure the success of this investiture program. Thank you for your renewed dedication to the service and leadership in the PNU community.
For their kind greetings, I thank my former boss at DOST, the Department of Education, the South Manila Inter Institutional Consortium of Universities, and the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges and the officials of the Science Community. I also thank the delegates from other colleges, universities and professional organizations. You represent many of the institutions that walk hand in hand with PNU in our thrust for equitable quality education.
Thank you to the foreign embassies and international organizations in the Philippines, the Diplomatic Corps, for your presence and kind offers for program collaboration.
To my former colleagues and partners in the profession, friends, mentors, classmates and batch mates of PNU Class ’76, thank you for giving your time and all your support.
For me, the Presidency of the Philippine Normal University is an enriching personal experience of which I am honored to be a part of. For the love of PNU, I have fully devoted myself in accepting this great responsibility.
On this significant occasion, I would like to honor my parents. Thank you Nanay and Tatay for believing in me, and for instilling in me that excellence, truth, commitment and empathy are values that matter in giving service to institution and nation. To my brothers, sister, nephews and nieces for being here to show your support. No amount of recognition could replace the love of my family.
To the PNU faculty: Thank you for the warm reception and for giving utmost importance to this significant event in the history of PNU. I believe your presence is an indication of your recognition that we share a responsibility in meeting the challenges of upholding the philosophy of PNU which is to mentor all people who have come to the university for their education, personal renewal and social transformation. PNU continues to be the premiere teacher-training institution in the country because of your devotion and significant contributions.
To the PNU staff, thank you. Your labor is not in vain and I am grateful for all the dedicated work you have done. The programs of this university will not be fully realized without your tireless support. I am confident that we can far achieve success and have more chances to realize our desired dreams with unified efforts.
And to the PNU students: It is a delight to have you here on this special moment. Keep your spirits high, be inspired in your studies, work hard so that tomorrow and the future generation will be safe in your hands.
Finally, I thank the PNU alumni for being here and for carrying the fire of idealism of our institution in your work places. Thank you for your loyalty, commitment to your profession and support to our alma mater. Last month, during the Alumni Homecoming, I broached the idea of establishing the PNU Foundation and presented the various programs of which many of you have responded with pledges and donations. Thank you, even as I appeal for more sponsorships from individuals and PNU Alumni organizations all over the world.
A University of Great Tradition
PNU has a tradition, history and a legacy of a good teacher education university. For over a century and a decade, PNU did not only provide quality education…it also created leaders, mostly unsung heroes. We owe it to our past leaders who envisioned of providing relevant educational programs which made PNU a robust academic institution.
It may interest you to know that my mother, who is here with me now, a graduate of this university several decades ago, insisted that I enrol at then Philippine Normal College, believing that her institution was the best in teacher education. As a student leader and activist at my time, she felt that it was better for me to lead others through education. Mine was an enriching experience at PNU as a student, heading three major organizations and participating actively in activities that meant so much in making my fellow students evolve also as leaders, effective learners thru peer learning and innovators in the delivery of teaching in our own ways.
Having seen PNU’s long tradition in education and the leaders in education that PNU has produced over the years, it cannot be denied that PNU is the country’s major producer of education leaders.
History will tell us that the tradition of “ecole normal” found its foothold in the country in 1901 thru the precursor of PNU, the Philippine Normal School. The concept of ecole normal was to provide for the quality of teaching thru the required standard on content and pedagogy. That basic principle that built PNU is the same basic principle that will continue to hold the institution in the delivery of its programs guided by results of researches and its mandate as the National Center for Teacher Education.
PNU Now
From where you are now, you see the original structure of a building that I have seen and perhaps a million more have seen before. The strength of the university is manifested by the stability of the building. By analogy, I can say with confidence that the capacity of the university in the fields of Linguistics and Culture and in other fields, with the dedication and commitment of its faculty, managed to level up despite various fiscal challenges to it and is currently at a respectable level. I am likewise proud to say, that the university has a competent pool of faculty members in science and mathematics education that has been benefitted with the painstaking and consistent support from the agency where I came from, like the other teacher education institutions in the country that received similar support.
To date, PNU has the most number and the most complete specializations in Teacher Education in the country at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The sheer number of graduates every year comprises the greatest number and impact to basic education.
Despite these accomplishments, history and tradition alone will not withstand the challenges and ravages of the times. PNU has to recommit itself to being a university that makes a major difference in this technology-driven history, We need to make learning more experiential. And given the new challenges and developments, we need to redefine our pedagogical philosophy as an institution.
Thus, we need to move fast in a manner that is in pace with the new and emerging technologies at hand. We need to develop an intellectual capital that is able to create knowledge and manage knowledge to produce the best graduates who can withstand the challenges within their midst.
Change for development is therefore an urgent task. Change that will allow the university to evolve and transform as an institution of higher learning, not only with respectable academic programs, but with the ability to create new knowledge, pedagogical approaches and policy map thru research.
The Challenges
Thus, as I embark on my four-year term, let me paint the challenges to teacher education in the Philippines for which PNU has to face squarely:
* Education is increasingly becoming demand driven
* New management technologies are transforming institutions toward excellence
* Technology is revolutionizing the way education is facilitated
* The standards movement is defining quality in teacher education
* The move is toward holistic and authentic learning
* The K to 12 program will define the content and delivery in teacher education
8-Point Agenda
In developing and accelerating PNU’s capability, I intend to pursue the following:
1. Developing Human Capital. PNU has established a solid foundation for excellence in education. However, the need for developing the university’s intellectual capital cannot be overemphasized. To complement the current pool of faculty members, we shall have a more focused approach to faculty and staff development and research and allow for recruitment of high level expertise for various specializations. The different departments of the university will define the profile for expertise requirements – in particular, the proportion of faculty in discipline-education related and faculty in pure disciplines should be guided by models and best practices of internationally respected universities in teacher education.
For our student intake, we shall recruit a student body with the intellectual ability and aptitude for teaching that reflects the demographic profile of our nation and nurture the future leaders in education who will have the ability to serve in diverse cultures in our country. PNU has been known for the quality and impact of its graduates: those who expand their minds and work beyond their comfort zones and those who will rise to the highest levels of leadership in their field of specializations, communities and organizations without compromising their integrity and character.
2. Scholarship of Teaching. We will introduce innovative programs thru the conduct of research that will define the university’s role on the scholarship of teaching. This involves strengthening PNU’s capacity in research for instruction that covers content knowledge, general pedagogy and pedagogical content knowledge with the rigors required for the scholarship of research. Thus, we intend to showcase research-based models of pedagogical approaches in the various disciplines. We shall likewise improve the university’s capability on policy research in education.
3. Leadership in Educational Reform. At all times, PNU must be recognized for providing the highest quality education in teacher education. Likewise, we shall conduct important researches and participate in international comparative studies that provide basis for policy formulation and reforms in education. We shall also review our present curriculum not only to adopt to the K to 12 program of the Department of Education but also to put in place a curricular program that meets the international standards for Teacher Education.
4. Global Positioning. To participate in any competition, we need to understand the rules of the game. While we understand the elements that make one a winner, strategy and action will define the outcome. To put ourselves in the international playing field, it is necessary for us to collaborate with foreign universities and institutions to enhance our research and knowledge capabilities. We likewise need to develop our institutional confidence in lining side by side with the best institutions in the world for teacher education with the aim of not only gaining respect for the university but most especially for the graduates that we produce. This would include doing international comparative studies in education, organizing international fora, faculty exchange and other activities.
5. Establishing a PNU System. The PNU with its five branches situated strategically in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao needs to pursue a system that ensures a uniform standard for program delivery and output. A uniform standard will provide for desirable characteristics of services on quality, reliability, and efficiency of programs even if they may provide for unique programs in some campuses. This will also ensure that graduates produced in the main and the provincial campuses are of comparable quality on the major indicators of success like passing the LET and employability.
6. Developing a PNU Modernization Plan. The PNU Modernization Plan will describe our efforts in supporting the transformation of PNU as the National Center for Teacher Education. The plan is expected to provide for a roadmap for enhancing the current capabilities and effective strategies of the university. This is also intended to modernize PNU facilities and systems to be attuned to the 21st century academic environment thru optimum use of technology to promote efficiency, relevance, and responsiveness.
Future teachers and educational leaders must possess information at the moment of value to be capable of creating new knowledge, manage knowledge and be able to handle new and emerging technologies for education. Thus, the university must be able to provide these opportunities to all its students. In the near future, we would like to move towards operating an e-PNU or a digital university that will allow us to train teachers, by multi-media and electronic means, in the various disciplines and in their places of work at any point in the country.
7. Application of New Management Technologies. We want to infuse new technology systems for our academic and administrative and financial operations and for which we will secure funding support from donors or thru public private partnerships. We shall likewise reform the planning and budgeting process to reflect the needs of the instructional, research and technical services of all the PNU campuses. The recently conducted systems review is intended to improve the operations of the university.
8. Resource Generation thru Partnership and Collaboration. It is a reality that state universities and colleges do not have all the resources needed to improve their services. Considering the critical role that PNU as the National Center for Teacher Education will play in nation-building, any support for making the university perform its role effectively is of supreme importance. However, some government and funding institutions give support to those who are already well-off justifying that little resources given to them can produce maximum impact. We pray that a university with a mission for national building, like PNU, be considered equally important and will likewise provide immeasurable and multiplier impact. Thus, PNU shall open its doors to all types of collaborations – academic, research and extension services. It shall likewise solicit the assistance of funding agencies and institutions and welcome proposals for public private partnerships thru Build Operate and Transfer arrangements in some priority areas of operations.
And to our Alumni who have started a generation of achievers –parents and grandparents, who by themselves were perhaps incapable of supporting PNU during their productive years but now serve as the building blocks of capacities of their families and people who are well placed in our society, we hope that you will consider your roots worthy of your corporate social responsibility.
Concluding Statement
Our neighbouring countries have universities that symbolize excellence in education on a global scale. The recent challenges to participate in a global arena compel our country to have our institutions of higher learning to measure up to international standards. It is imperative to build institutions that are globally competitive in as many fields as possible. Thus, the country’s flagship universities in the sciences, engineering, arts and culture are laudable and provide the respect for our country and Filipino professionals. The respect for these institutions translates to respect for the nation and our people. Correspondingly, if we want respect for our teachers, we need to build this university to meet international standards and gain the respect for our nation and people. History and tradition alone cannot do it. Hard efforts and investments will. Let us not deprive our country of high quality education for our teachers and of the opportunity to nurture our next generation of educational leaders. It is therefore important that government, the private sector, NGOs and our alumni be with us in fulfilling our vision.
Our vision for the future will be easy to achieve if we collectively manage our future, now.
As PNU’s 10th President, I commit to my Alma mater and nation, to do the best I can to achieve our vision.
Mabuhay ang PNU! Maraming salamat po.