FOUR undergraduate programs of the University of Santo Tomas were granted five-year certification by the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations University Network-Quality Assurance.

The four programs are BS Accountancy, BS Biology, BS Chemistry and BS Psychology.

Academic Programs Quality Assurance Office Director Marife Narcida said that the results were released after the assessment conducted by AUN-QA experts from May 2-4, 2023.

The accreditation placed the programs at par with the education standards set by quality universities in the ASEAN region.

“The College’s objective is to continue enhancing the quality of our academic programs, not necessarily for external accreditation or assessment, but more so for our stakeholders (learners and industry partners especially) who rely on us for the provision of the much-needed accounting professionals. We integrate the AUNQA framework and see it as an effective tool for continuous quality improvement,” Dr. Patricia Empleo, dean of the UST-Alfredo M. Velayo College of Accountancy, said.

“The good news we just received from the AUN validates that the improvements we have instituted had addressed the majority, if not all, of the concerns and points for improvement that they had provided us after their first visit in 2017,” said College of Science Dean Dr. Rey Donne Papa.

“This includes the revision of our curricula for the Biology, Chemistry, and Psychology programs and the increased research productivity of the departments concerned, as well as the transfer of our laboratories to the Central Laboratory Building,” he added.

“We will continue to strive for excellence in all aspects of our operations as we start planning for the AUN assessment of other programs such as Microbiology, Applied Mathematics and Applied Physics in the near future,” Papa said.

AUN-QA is a group of Chief Quality Officers appointed by the AUN member universities.
It acts as the focal point for coordinating activities to harmonize educational standards for the improvement of academic quality of universities in ASEAN.