BY LEANDER C. DOMINGO
LAGAWE, Ifugao (September 15)—The Ifugao State University (IFSU) has convened select officials who are members of the University’s Task Force for World’s Universities with Real Impact (WURI) aiming to boost quality education and strengthen its international impact.
Established by the Organizing Committee of the Hanseatic League of Universities (HLU), WURI is a new ranking system that evaluates the university’s real contributions to society with an emphasis on creative and innovative approaches to the institution’s research and educational programs.
According to Dr. Marie Ann Galvez, IFSU Director of the Department of Quality Assurance, members of the WURI from September 8 to 9, 2022 have explored, discussed, and looked into the services of the university across its major thrusts concerning the indicators of international ranking figures.
Galvez said the event held at IFSU Accreditation Room aimed to assess the university’s past and current undertakings and their contribution to the life of their stakeholders, particularly the vulnerable and marginalized men and women.
In her message during the event, IFSU President Dr. Eva Marie Codamon-Dugyon said the event was the first to be conducted at IFSU hoping that it will help the academe evaluate its standing in relation to the indicators set by international ranking bodies.
Dugyon noted that as the working president of IFSU, she has always pushed forward subjecting the university to accreditation or review from external experts.
“Through this, we can see how we are faring compared to quality standards outside our lenses and biases. This will remind us not to dwell on our laurels but to continuously improve our systems,” she said.
Serving as the resource speaker during the event was Dr. Christine Ferrer who is the director of the Camiling town-based Tarlac Agricultural University External Linkages and International Affairs. She presented the university’s best practices and their journey to WURI ranking inclusion.
Dr. Ferrer discussed the six categories of evaluation for WURI, namely, Industrial Application; Value-Creating startups and entrepreneurship; Social Responsibility, Ethics, and Integrity; Student Mobility and Openness for exchange and collaboration between schools and across national borders; Crisis Management amid climate change, Covid-19 pandemic, and other global and local crisis; and Progress during the Fourth Industrial Revolution through digital technology, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud services, blockchain, among others.
Richard Baliao, IFSU Department of Communication, Public and International Affairs director, said a brief orientation on Quacquerelli Symonds (QS) Ranking and Times Higher Education (THE) Ranking was also conducted during the event.
To help attract international students, Baliao explained that WURI, QS, and THE are evidence-based marketing tools that provide badges for each rating which can be used by IFSU in its marketing.