DATE & VENUE:
September 14, 2022 | CPSC, Manila, Philippines
PARTICIPANTS' PROFILE:
The meeting will gather TVET experts, policymakers, practitioners, and academicians who are based in the CPSC’s host country, the Philippines. The meeting will also convene industry representatives and managers coming from different sectors.


Rationale

The Colombo Plan Staff College for Technician Education (CPSC) is an inter-governmental organization for human resource development (HRD) and a specialized agency of the Colombo Plan. The Colombo Plan, which is based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, was set up in the 1950s as the first multilateral effort in foreign aid in the Asia and Pacific Region. It was conceived to promote bilateral aid flow and technical cooperation under coordinated schemes among member countries to ensure better results for the entire region.

CPSC was born on December 5, 1973, when 26 member countries of the Colombo Plan recognized the need for a regional training center to improve technical education and training. CPSC was founded by 26 Member Governments across Asia and the Pacific, which, in alphabetical order, consisted of Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma (now Myanmar), Canada, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Khmer Republic (now Cambodia), Republic of Korea, Laos (now Lao PDR), Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States of America and Vietnam.

In 1974, the Government of Singapore (the first host country) declared CPSC an international organization. In 1987, CPSC moved to the Philippines (second host country) at the invitation of the Philippine Government.

The main objective of CPSC is to improve the quality of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in the member countries by meeting the needs of the human resources that play active part in TVET development programs.

Since globalization and rapid regional developments are posing challenges in the TVET sector, CPSC recognizes its role in preparing TVET professionals to effectively meet these challenges. Thus, as an institution that is mindful of the changing demand of the global arena, CPSC, itself, undergoes systematic review and assessment, both internal and external, to ensure the responsiveness of the College to the needs of the member countries.

Studies show that two-thirds of large-scale transformation in organizational efforts fail. But that’s not a helpful piece of information―unless we’re looking for confirmation that this is hard, really hard. What is useful is to understand what CPSC can do to substantially increase the odds that the organization won’t be among the two-thirds of those that fail.

Organizational adaptability, as well as change, is an important issue. It is a process in which an organization optimizes performance as it works toward its ideal state. It occurs as a reaction to an ever-changing environment and a response to a current crisis. One of the areas where CPSC as an organization needs to review and possibly can make changes is in its strategic plan. CPSC continually asks, “What is our business and what should it be?” Answers to these questions may lead to changes in the organization’s mission (the purpose of its business), its vision for the future (what the organization should look like), and its competitive strategy.

This program leads us to look at the strategic plan of CPSC as a tool for organizing the present affairs based on the projection of the desired future. A strategic plan that will serve as a roadmap to lead CPSC from where it is now to where it would like to be in the next five years. The backgrounders to be presented will be, directional guidelines. These guidelines aid in appraising the changing market conditions and spot opportunities or dangers. They examine the organization’s strengths and weaknesses, mission, and organizational values. The NCW will attempt to match the opportunities with the organization’s strengths and priority commitments.

Strategic planning would more than ensure that the CPSC remains in a sound state and would be able to maintain its operations. The strategic plan features a 5-year blueprint of its operations and plans that try to capture the future scenario of CPSC. Moreover, the strategic planning process would promote the understanding that to get thru the projected future, everyone in the organization and stakeholders need to work to ensure that the goals are met – that everybody should work as a collective body to be successful.

The strategic planning process would also aid CPSC to manage instabilities and risks since the process would already consider the institutions’ foreseen future problems and risks and how to address them.

Indeed, the planning process would involve several steps to identify its status, including its vision, mission, operating core values, needs, goals, prioritized action/strategies, action plan, and monitoring plan.

The Process for the CPSC Strategic Plan for 2023-2028

As an intergovernmental organization for TVET, CPSC relies on a multi-consultative approach to craft its direction for the next five years. Upon the commencement of the current Strategic Plan 2018-2023, CPSC again embarks on another consultative exercise that will consider the upcoming trends, issues, and ideas that will chart its direction for the next development phase. This would require extensive efforts in identifying present trends, learning from past experiences, and charting future directions as guided by the findings from the past and present.

CPSC considers the process of consultation as an extremely important concept in the context of organizational management. CPSC exists to create value for stakeholders and consultation is a process by which its management aims to better understand the needs, wants, and expectations of stakeholders, so that value can be created.

Moreover, consultation is an active process that opens communication channels between the CPSC and its stakeholders.

The purpose of the national consultation workshop is an initial phase to request stakeholders provide advice to CPSC about their needs, wants, and expectations. Also, during the consultation, stakeholders will be asked to comment on plans that have been created and to assure that CPSC has taken into account the feedback of the stakeholders in the crafting of the 5-year strategic plan exercise. CPSC has a firm conviction that if a strategic plan is conceived without proper consultation, it has far less chance of successful implementation. It is in this light that the National Consultation Workshop is conceived.



Objectives

The objectives of the National Consultation Workshop

  • Assess the CPSC Strategic Plan 2018-2023 of its achievements and ascertain shortcomings if any
  • Describe the regional scenario based on trends identified by the member countries and other related organizations
  • Draft a planning framework for the next Strategic Plan 2023-2028 for the consideration of the Experts in the second phase of consultation



Inputs

The objectives of the National Consultation Workshop

  • CPSC Strategic Plan 2018-2023
  • Scorecard of the CPSC Strategic Plan 2013-2018
  • Survey results on:
    • Impact of CPSC Programs as Assessed by its Stakeholders
    • Trends and Program Needs for the Next Five Years
  • Draft Vision-Mission-Goals for the next CPSC Strategic Plan 2023-2028 as perceived internally by CPSC staff.



Strategies

To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the following strategies will be adopted:

  1. Background Presentations on:
    • Overview of the Phases of Strategic Planning in CPSC
    • Achievements, Opportunities and Challenges of the CPSC Strategic Plan 2018-2023
    • Trends and Needs of TVET in CPSC Member Countries for the next five years.
  2. Concurrent Workshops and Experience Sharing
  3. Integrated Workshop Group Presentations
    • Drafting of Vision-Mission-Goals statement
    • Crafting of CPSC’s Direction for the next five years



Expected Outputs
  • Draft Strategic Planning framework for 2023-2028
  • Industry requirements for TVET in the upcoming years
  • Identified and suggested CPSC policy directions based on the findings of group discussions and backgrounder presentations.


Program Management and Resource Persons

Program Supervisor Prof. G. L. D. Wickramasinghe ([email protected]) is the first Sri Lankan and the 12th Director General of CPSC. He is also the concurrent President of Asia Pacific Accreditation and Certification Commission (APACC).

Prior to his appointment as the Director General, he was a professor at the Department of Textile and Clothing Technology, University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka since 2015. Here also held key administrative posts during his career: as a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Vocational Technology (2016-2019), former Chairman of the Centre for Open and Distance Learning (CODL) of the University of Moratuwa (2015-2016), and former head of the Department of Textile and Clothing Technology (2009-2012).

He also served as the Chairman of Alethea International School (2017-2021), an independent non-executive Director of Orit Apparels Lanka Ltd. (2014-2016), and Sri Lanka Institute of Textile and Apparel (2010-2015). He also served as the Director of Technical and Quality Assurance of Brandix Textiles Ltd (2013-2014). He also served as chairman and member of various public sector strategic and technical committees.

He also published over 60 research publications on topics related to textile engineering and educational management, of which over 30 are international refereed journal publications.

He was honored with 18 national and international awards including Emerald Literary Award (2018), President's Award for Scientific Publications (2017), and NRC Merit Award for Scientific Publication (2016, 2011). The World Education Congress also honored him with the award for Outstanding Contribution to Education in “Sri Lanka Education Leadership Awards” in 2018.

Prof. Wickramasinghe is a graduate of a Bachelor of Science in Textile Engineering from the University of Moratuwa in 1993 by which he obtained first class honors. He finished his PhD at the University of Manchester in 2003. He also obtained a PG Certificate in Learning and Teaching, the University of Arts London, UK in 2006 and an MBA in the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka in 2008.


Program Coordinator and Resource Person Prof. Romulita C. Alto, EdD ([email protected]) has retired from government service in 2006, however, she continuously imparts her knowledge in various capacities like currently, she is a CPSC Project-Based Faculty Consultant, Accreditor of APACC and Research Consultant of the Technological Institute of the Philippines.

She is not new to the CPSC, since she has been associated with the Staff College since year 1992 in various capacities. From 1992-1994, she was a Research Associate. From year 1997 to 2001, she was engaged in CPSC as Governing Board engaged Core Faculty Consultant and Chairperson of Consultancy and Marketing Division and Research and Development Division. Dr. Alto is the lead author of CPSC’s best-selling book – the Research in TVET Made Easy and was the lead reviewer of the APACC documents in year 2013 – 2014.

She was also able to handle several high-profile assignments and projects in ADB, JICA, being an educator and international consultant for 57 years now. Dr. Alto earned her Doctorate Degree in Educational Administration in 1984, Master’s Degree in Teaching Chemistry in 1970, and Bachelor of Science Degree in Home Economics and Bachelor of Science in Education in 1961 all from the University of the Philippines. In addition, as an educator, Dr. Alto was a recipient of some awards in recognition of her outstanding performance such as the Outstanding Public School Teacher of the City of Manila in 1971, the Most Outstanding Natural Science Teacher of the Year in 1972, and the Outstanding Faculty of the Technological University of the Philippines in 2005. Among the scholarship grants she enjoyed are a Shell Philippines Chemistry Scholarship at the University of the Philippines; CDG-Gesellshaft scholarship at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand on Remote Sensing Technology and Environmental Resources Management; Asia Foundation Scholarship on the Teaching of CBA Chemistry at the Ateneo University; and Teaching of Chemistry at RECSAM in Penang Malaysia to name a few.


Resource Person Dr. Kesavan Ulaganathen ([email protected]) is a faculty expert in the Colombo Plan Staff College (CPSC). His academic expertise is on optical communication, industrial engineering and instrumentation, satellite communication, wireless communication, computer aided design for electronic design, semiconductor technology, digital communication, RF and Microwave technology.

He obtained his Ph.D. in Wireless Communication at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 2014, and his Master of Engineering degree in Electrical, Electronic and Telecommunication in 2005 in the same university. He has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (Electronics and Telecommunication) degree from the College University Institute of Tun Hussein Onn (KUITTHO), currently known as UTHM - Malaysia where he also obtained a post-graduate Diploma in Education in 1999. He also has a Certificate and Diploma in Electrical and Telecommunication Engineering from Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Polytechnic in Pahang, Malaysia.

He has an extensive teaching experience in higher technical education working as a lecturer at Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Polytechnic (POLISAS), Kuantan, Pahang from 1999-2003; and as lecturer and training officer at Sultan Azlan Shah Polytechnic (PSAS), Tanjung Malim, Perak from 2005-2008. He was appointed as Senior Lecturer at Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Polytechnic (POLISAS) from 2009-2016. He was posted as Head of Department for Mathematical, Science and Computer at Polytechnic Sandakan Sabah, at East Malaysia at Borneo Island from 2017-2021. His former position was as Principal Lecturer in Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Polytechnic (POLISAS), Kuantan, Pahang in Malaysia. He has been involved in Higher Education Curriculum Development programmes for electrical engineering courses, specifically in the optoelectronic field, in Polytechnics system in Malaysia. He has been involved in consultation works as well, one of his areas is on the 5G network for Malaysia.

He has over 25 research publications on electronic and telecommunications which were published in prestigious journals such as the Advanced Journal of Technical and Vocational Education, International Journal of Electronics, and Radioengineering. He is also a reviewer for some of journals articles published by IEEE, PIERS, HINDAWI and others for international publications and conferences.


Resource Person Rae Emmanuel Echaveria ([email protected]) is currently the Research, Publications and Information Division (RPID) Officer in CPSC and has been with the college since 2010.

As an RPID Officer, his major tasks include the implementation and development of TVET researches, publications and information management activities and initiatives of CPSC. He is also responsible in managing the news about CPSC's activities, organizational reports and other promotional materials. He has also shared his expertise as a resource person and trainer in topics such as conducting and managing social science and TVET researches, institutional strategic planning and project management techniques to TVET senior professionals, administrators and students.

Some of the notable research activities he handled include the “Challenges and Issues of TVET in the CPSC Member Countries”, published in 2010; CPSC Strategic Plan 2013-2018 and 2019-2023 published in 2013 and 2018, respectively; and “In-Country Reports of the International Symposium on TVET for Poverty Alleviation” published from 2013 to 2015, among others. He has also shared his knowledge on contemporary social issues and was invited to several speaking engagements organized by the University of the Philippines – Diliman.

He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics at the University of the Philippines – Visayas, Philippines in 2009 and is currently pursuing his Masters of Arts in Sociology degree in the University of the Philippines-Diliman, Manila, Philippines.