In fulfillment of its commitment in upholding the highest standard of quality in operations and by setting a role model for the international organizations in the region about the importance of ISO accreditation and certification, the Colombo Plan Staff College (CPSC) went through the First Surveillance Audit for the new cycle of CPSC’s 3 yr-recertification under the ISO (International Standards Organization) 9001:2008. The audit was conducted by the Certification International Philippines, Inc. (CI)--a long partner of CPSC in its quality advocacy, held at CPSC on July 10, 2014.

CPSC’s quality management system (QMS) bagged a Zero-Non-Conformity result for the First Surveillance Audit of its new cycle of recertification and shall be duly recommended to UKAS for continued certification by the auditing firm CI. CPSC has continually proven to its stakeholders that it has been implementing up-to-date policies that encapsulated the needs and requirements of its clients, as shown in its regular implementation of internal and external quality audits and the affirmation of its ISO accreditation, first obtained in 2001.

During the opening meeting, Dr. Mohammad Naim Yaakub, CPSC Director General, apprised the auditors on the latest developments and achievements of the College for the past year. He mentioned CPSC’s unwavering commitment in upholding high quality standards in the implementation of its program and in rendering services to its stakeholders. Such claim was evidenced by the increase in number of beneficiaries, the positive reception and feedback of customers on the services accorded to them by the College, and the intensified linkages and networks with various organizations and institutions.

The Audit Team Leader and Managing Director, Mr. Renato Navarrete, expressed his sincere appreciation on the active participation of all the teams during the audit proper that all identified areas for audit were covered as scheduled. He noted CPSC’s remarkable achievements for the period particularly citing the College’s focus on being true to its mission and its efforts to equal the challenges it confronts.


The CPSC team led by the Director General, Dr. Mohammad Naim Yaakub (left photo, left) with CI auditors composed of Mr. Renato Navarrete, (left photo, right) and Mr. Leonardo del Carmen (right photo, left), Audit Team Leader and Member, respectively

The CI team also composed of Mr. Leonardo Del Carmen, Audit Team Member pronounced the successful results of the audit by reconfirming that the scope of CPSC's QMS remains to be valid. The Audit report provided by the CI states that "The audit revealed a mature, well-maintained QMS. Evidences of improvements in different processes were verifiable. The Quality Policy continues to be actionable with the Goals, Strategies and Objectives established by top management. Aligned with all these are the documented procedures and processes.

Objectives are defined to govern the conduct of core and support processes carried out by top management and process owners. At regular intervals, performance reports are prepared, indicating qualitative and quantitative results. Where needed, improvement actions are specified. The QMS, as a performance-based system, has been actively deployed at the center of CPSC’s operations.

Top management has attributed to the QMS, particularly how it has helped CPSC exercise a wide range of disciplines and controls over its planning, resource allocations, operations, performance verification and improvement actions, its ability to carefully identify customer requirements and transforming these requirements into training and projects that are highly rated by external customers."

The objective of the audit was to assess the performance and effectiveness of the QMS in attaining organizational objectives and other requirements for continued certification to ISO 9001:2008. CPSC’s certified QMS covers the areas of planning, designing, organizing, conducting, evaluating and improving demand-driven training programs and projects in technical and vocational education and training (TVET), research, consultancy, information and communication technology and media and special human resource development services.