Philippines, December 30, 2015
It is the 119th death anniversary of Dr Jose Rizal, the acclaimed national hero, and a foremost alumnus And today, I have been seeing a lot of posts and criticisms on loss of PAASCU (loss na ba talaga? Is the news accurate. I searched the net for the news and there was none) accreditation for distinguished GSB. A former student in Clark texted me her concern on the hearsays and grapevine news on the possible withdrawal of the said accreditation. She is on Special Program, and is worried that she may not get the diploma from abroad or that the Program will be discontinued.?
PAASCU accreditation of the University
Brief History PAASCU accreditation
The school applied for accreditation in 2004 and was accredited in 2010. I was all ready a part time faculty at that time (and still is ) and we participated in the process. It was a long and tedious process. Now as to the loss of accreditation, from my limited knowledge, the school management could have not complied or stalledto comply with several things that are necessary for the re accreditation. We do not exactly know what happened as to why these things were not attended to.
The question to be raised here are:
1. Prior to 2010, was the quality education lesser compared to 2010 or after?
2. Did more students enroll after 2010 due to PAASCU accreditation?
3. Was the foreign school program running prior to PAASCU accreditation.?
My comments here on the possible withdrawal of accreditation by PAASCU, will put me on collision course with the detractors, former faculty of the school who have made their comments at the social media. I too have my challenges when the management of the school changed hands. The school management hardly knows me, and I was off the roster for a year. But in keeping with spirit of loyalty when you are part of the organization, and the Ignatian Leadership (which I am teaching now) we have to support the school, its vision mission and principles and the kind of education which we tried to put together for a decade or so with two former B deans. I think it also not a good idea to do this at social media. There was a post 11 days ago at a social medium and all ready there is a long thread of discussion/opinions which are not doing the school, the faculty, and students any good. (Very degrading and humiliating - nakakababa for those who struggle with the school mission) Some of the statements there may be mere opinions and not facts (not in line with CAT - sorry for the lecture)
Let me put in my 5 cents worth of opinion. (Since the news on loss of accreditation is not verified by this post, it is possible that this comment is speculative and presumptuous) although I am neither from the school management nor from PAASCU
The structures, the syllabus, the standards are in place, great and professional lecturers are continuously recruited and trained; the old ones are still there, and no matter what, the Graduate School of Business, with its long history of leadership training of its students and faculty will continue to deliver quality business education to young and aspiring entrepreneurs and business managers and leaders with or without PAASCU accreditation, or even the iprimatur from abroad. It is not perfect, but definitely a work in progress. Please take note that the business leader, the student make or unmake themselves at the business or entrepreneurial world, , with or without PAASCU imprimatur. The accreditation this post dare say, merely adds flavor to an all ready tested recipe You may have an accreditation; but take note it is the qualification of the professor and the stuff that the student has that can make or unmake the graduate a fool or a genius in the real world of power and wealth (The green school produced many street smart entrepreneurs without the said accreditation.) The accreditation takes every five years so that is due this year. It is sad to lose the accreditation for whatever reason and perhaps the management of the school and the university will act expeditiously on matters of compliance and submission During the past 5 years, nothing has changed with the school.
Thus students must keep faith in the school that they will continue to get quality business education even with this little challenge. It is part of leadership to be optimistic, and to be faithful to the ideals of the school (Remember song for Mary - to be faithful to you?)
The quality of business education at the school is high and will even be higher thanks to its hardworking staff and faculty
As with regards to accreditation PAASCU and CHED are on collision course, because CHED wants to have its own system of classifying schools. CHED has all ready ranked the school as the top among 199 schools in the country under its supervision . It is rather odd that PAASCU, whose President is also a president of the school system in Mindanao, belonging to the same religious order as the one running this school, should withdraw the said accreditation
We as professors and leaders are bearer of good news, if there are bad news to lessen its negative impact. As leaders, our tasks are to mend, to heal, to motivate and inspire. to raise up, to level up when things are on downward spiral, to make whole again the broken hearts and spirits. This author wishes that this article just that for every one concerned.
We appeal for the restoration of the said accreditation and for those responsible to submit what is required. As of now, this author was advised that school authorities will issue an official announcement on this burning issue
Here is the post at the FB re said item and it is hoped that it does good for the school, faculty and the alumni
DIS-ACCREDITED MBA PROGRAMS: Now it can be told, which validated my previous post on the matter, that all the MBA...
Posted by Cesar Mansibang on Saturday, December 19, 2015
Hello prof. I read the same post and was thinking of asking you in person this Saturday. Funny, if it were true. I know several graduate schools in Cebu alone with accreditation, but with standards significantly lower than Ateneo, which, by any ranking in the Philippines, in any degree, would never disappear from the list of the top 5 universities of the country. If virtual diploma mills like them are deemed accredited (and yes, I know the caliber of their products), then this issue should be a no-brainer, unless the actions are fueled by more nefarious motives. I hope this issue gets settled soon, for the peace of mind of my fellow students and our alumni.
ReplyDeleteThe school leadership should be issuing a statement soon. Thanks for comforting thoughts on this issue. Only quality students and quality instruction make good graduates. Not an accreditation. Who is afraid of losing such?
ReplyDeleteHello All! There will a general assembly this coming Tuesday at 6PM with the President. Please come in, this will be the right venue to clarify this with the Management :) Salamat po!
ReplyDeleteHi Prof, I have graduated from the AGSB many moons ago. Hope the issue on paascu is resolved soon. I am not privy to paascu and its compliance standards. But am pretty sure that a 150 year old revered institution as the Ateneo will not let its guard down with a paascu failing mark which is not even supported with an official statement from its current academic officers. The efforts of Dr. Alran Bengzon, Dean Buenviaje and now Dean Ang in making the AGSB a high quality business school should not go to waste. I hope and pray that AGSB will move forward to its mission - vision of greatness in providing business education.
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ReplyDeletePlease read the Letter of Ateneo President Fr. Jett Villarin SJ dated January 4 2016 to clarify facts and to calm the nerves of nervous students affected by the social media post on the same issue:
ReplyDelete4 January 2016
Memo to : The University Community
Subject : AGSB accreditation
In their letter of 15 December 2015, the Philippine Accrediting Association for Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU), through their President, Fr. Joel Tabora, informed me of their decision not to reaccredit our Graduate School of Business (AGSB). In their last visit, PAASCU made three recommendations for the AGSB to comply with, namely, (a) the appropriate academic credentials of the dean, (b) the required number of core full-time faculty members, and (c) the substantial implementation of the 2010 recommendations in the area of faculty and administration. PAASCU noted our compliance with (b) and (c), but not with (a). While we argued for the dean’s extensive academic and business record despite his lack of a PhD, PAASCU regarded the doctorate degree as an important accreditation requirement.
I would like to assure the community that this loss of accreditation does not invalidate our academic programs at the AGSB nor does it call into question the quality of these programs. We are not in violation of CHED’s policies, standards and guidelines since CHED CMO 35 (section 5.1, series of 1998) clearly states that the PhD is not a required qualification for the dean in non-thesis masteral programs, which is the case for the AGSB.
We do appreciate PAASCU’s stand on the doctoral degree, which is what global standards require as well. I would like to assure you that we shall eventually have a dean who has the appropriate doctorate to lead the AGSB. We do hold however that at this stage of the AGSB’s development, the greater need is for a dean who has the proven academic and business record to bring us to these global standards. At this point, we believe it is Mr Rudy Ang who can still help us realize the vision of academic excellence via research (strategic goal #2) and internationalization (strategic goal #4) for AGSB.
As a next step, I have asked Dr Tonette Angeles (VP for the Ateneo Professional Schools) to organize a meeting of the AGSB cluster heads with the dean to (a) come up with strategic measures to clearly communicate the implications of this accreditation issue to our different publics (e.g. students, faculty, academic and business partners, etc) and draw feedback from them, and (b) determine a course of action on re-applying for accreditation (domestic and international, i.e. PAASCU, AACSB, EQUIS, etc) with actionable items and timelines to mark our steps in this direction.
ad majorem Dei gloriam.
Jose Ramon T Villarin SJ
President
The above communique from Fr. Villarin speaks clearly of the AGSB's stand on PAASCU's terms. Let us give the AGSB leadership the chance to pursue their vision - mission relentlessly until the full fruition of success is achieved. I have deep faith in their no non-sense capability to turn this situation around for the good of the entire AGSB MBA community.
ReplyDeleteAs an ordinary AGSB graduate, perhaps the AGSB can tighten its admission & retention policies. Instead of a proprietary IQ exams, a GMAT exams can be administered to MBA applicants. As a capstone prior to an MBA degree, the thesis should be revived similar to the MRR of AIM. Of course, retention standards should follow Ateneo's highly esteemed JGSOM policies. Lastly, AGSB can tie up with SINGAPORE MANAGEMENT UNIVERSITY for ASEAN regional MBA academic supremacy.
ReplyDeleteHi Sir; the new Dean has done that and is personally reviewing interviewing new students There is lower # of enrollees because of these admission changes. As for the Strama, I can promise you that the panelists are doing our job to the fullest to raise the bar. The lowest passing grade now is 2 and is equivalent to 85 -88 all under the new Dean. I for one have sat in several panels were there were ro orals and and/or F given to the student who did not deserve to pass. As for the faculty, there are more PhDs who comprise the teaching staff. We are all do gooders for AGSB and the suggestion and comments are highly appreciated. But we must not look bad at the social media either.
Deleteyes Sir, well taken. As a late 80's graduate of AGSB, I hold the AGSB with high esteem and pride. Thus, I get hurt if bashers of the AGSB go about their usual tirades. I cannot compare how the 80s-90s AGSB graduates went about with their struggles with the MBA as I find the current crop of AGSB as smart and IT savvy. I also observed that successful graduates of AGSB came from old batches namely: nieves confesor of the AIM, ed sahagun - COO of HOLCIM; Rod Franco - COO of Metro Pacific Tollways; Jaime yu - SEVP of BDO, willi Uy - COO of phinma properties; josefina tan - vice chair of BDO; Aloysius colayco - CEO of Argosy Investments, Fidel Ramos - ex Pres. Avelino Zapanta- COO of Sea Air etc. and many more outstanding AGSB alumni in the roster. Congrats Sir for your very noble deeds in molding AGSB MBA future CEOS.
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