In view of continuously building pool of accreditors for the Asia Pacific Accreditation and Certification Commission (APACC), CPSC organized the APACC Accreditors’ Training from May 20-21, 2013 at the CPSC, Manila, Philippines. Ten participants composed of directors and heads of TVET institutions as well as deans and faculty members of universities from Malaysia and the Philippines were gathered Monday for the inaugural ceremonies of the program.

CPSC Director General and APACC President Dr. Mohammad Naim Yaakub welcomed all the distinguished participants and underscored the vital need for CPSC to conduct further capacity enhancement of potential accreditors for APACC, to respond to the fast increasing demand for APACC accreditation in various CPSC technical and vocational institutions (TVIs) network in different member countries. He also emphasized that the program would be such a beneficial platform for exchange of knowledge, expertise and experiences in accreditation for both APACC and the equally adept participants. The APACC President further highlighted the significance of accreditation and certification as it serves as a mechanism or yardstick of quality assurance in providing education and services, not to mention such marks of quality boosts institutional confidence.

Among the important elements of the program was the launching of the newly improved APACC instrument for maintaining accreditation as quality assurance mechanism based on quality systems standards. The program shall also serve as a platform to review and affirm the effectiveness of the revised APACC instrument.

The distinguished participants came from various academic and TVET institutions in the Philippines: such as Meralco Foundation, Inc., Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), Carlos Hilado Memorial State College (CHMSC), Western Visayas College of Science and Technology (WVCST), Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University (DMMSU) and University of Rizal System (URS). The aforementioned universities and state colleges were delegated by the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines (AACCUP), Inc. as a form of valuable support and contributions to the training of the Current President of AACUP, Dr. Luis Sorolla. Four participants hail from Malaysia from the Department of Polytechnic Education, Ministry of Higher Education and Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia – UTHM.

Mr. Elpidio Mamaril, Assistant Executive Director of TVET Systems Development Office, TESDA (Technical Education of Skills Development Authority) as Chief Guest during the closing ceremonies, commended CPSC for conducting the APACC activity more importantly for maximizing the event to validate the newly improved APACC instrument. He said that “no instrument should be static” and with the distinguished participants being experienced in the accreditation field, their expertise have definitely brought in new ideas to tighten the instrument, an instrument that would be more measurable and can even be consistent with other countries’ yardstick being the first accreditation body for Asia and the Pacific region. He congratulated the participants for completing the program and said that he looks forward for them as accreditors to accredit TESDA or other TVET institutions.

The program was designed to: provide understanding on accreditation as a tool for improving the quality of TVET institutions; build participants’ capacity to undertake actual accreditation process using APACC criteria; and validate the effectiveness of the improved APACC instrument.

The program’s overall supervision was led by Dr. Naim, while program coordination was handled by Dr. Godelyn Hisole, Faculty Specialist who also acted as Resource Person. Dr. Hazrat Hussain, CPSC Faculty Consultant and Dr. Romulita Alto, CPSC APACC Accreditor also acted as Resource Persons. Dr. Renato Sorolla, President of CHMSC, was also present to support the activity.


The program participants during training session