Seventeen state universities and colleges (SUCs) are participating in the online Strategic Communication Planning Workshop: Enhancing Communication Skills for Higher Education Institutions in the Philippines (StratCom4HEIs) conducted by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) from 1 February to 14 March 2021.
One SUC in the original 18 targeted HEIs was unable to join because it is in an area badly hit by Typhoon Odette, said Dr. Nova A. Ramos, who heads the SEARCA Training for Development Unit (T4DU).
She said the participants are from Agusan del Sur State College of Agriculture & Technology (ASSCAT), Aklan State University (ASU), Benguet State University (BSU), Bulacan Agricultural State College (BASC), Cagayan State University (CSU), Ifugao State University (IfSU), Ilocos Sur Polytechnic State College (ISPSC), Jose Rizal Memorial State University – Dapitan City (JRMSU), Occidental Mindoro State College (OMSC), Romblon State University (RSU), Sorsogon State University (SSU), University of Antique-Hamtic Campus, University of Eastern Philippines (UEP), University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), Visayas State University (VSU), Visayas State University (VSU), and West Visayas State University (WVSU). They are all members of the State Universities and Colleges-Association of Colleges of Agriculture in the Philippines, Inc. (SUC-ACAP, Inc.)
Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio, SEARCA Director, said the StratCom4HEIs intends to boost the participants’ ability to articulate the role of public communication in higher education in the Philippines.
He added that it is expected to enable the participants to describe the concept and elements of public communication, learn essential skills in public communication, and develop a public communication plan for their respective institutions.
Moreover, the workshop will help the SUCs upgrade their strategic communication and communication for development methodologies to keep abreast with the state-of-the-art information and communication technologies.
The eight-module workshop was designed in collaboration with the UPLB College of Development Communication and is conducted via the SEARCA Online Learning and Virtual Engagement (SOLVE) platform.
The StratCom4HEIs is being held under the auspices of the Leveling Up Philippine Higher Education Institutions in Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Resources (LevelUPHEI AFAR) project funded by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and implemented by SEARCA.
Dr. Gregorio said the goal of the LevelUPHEI AFAR project is to upgrade the institutional capacities of the SUC-ACAP, Inc. and its 75 members through short-term training and cross-visits, participation in activities of the SEARCA-established Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC), and to improve their standing in the world university rankings.
The implementation of the workshop is supervised by SEARCA’s Education and Collective Learning Department-T4DU