Public Ad Educators Meet

Some 75 participants from all over the country gathered at the National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG) Assembly Hall for this year’s Association of Schools of Public Administration in the Philippines, Inc. (ASPAP) Curriculum Workshop and General Assembly from November 25 to 26, 2013.

ASPAP is a national organization of over 100 higher education institutions (including the NCPAG) teaching public administration.

Three consecutive workshops were conducted where the participants collated and re-examined the way public administration was being taught at their respective institutions.

The workshop’s objectives were: to establish awareness and appreciation among public administration and governance higher education institutions of the mandated curricular requirements and standards formally espoused by CHED and provide a venue for the members to collaborate and help each other respond to both the new requirements and emerging challenges to the discipline.

Keynote speaker for the workshop was Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Commissioner and former NCPAG dean Alex Brillantes Jr.
He delivered a primer on the CHED’s plans to rationalize, map and amalgamate state universities and colleges to improve its quality, standards and transparency, which served as a starting point and guide for the three workshops that followed.

In her opening remarks, NCPAG Dean Maria Fe Mendoza said ASPAP needs to continuously hone itself as a major player in public administration instruction in the country.

“ASPAP as an organization needs reshaping and strategic reflection as well [as] to stay relevant and sustainable. Though it has ploughed along to become a vibrant platform for PA discourse, research and seminars, public lectures and learning events, it may still benefit from further calibration to maximize its potentials,” she said.

The workshop was spurred on by the advent of the K-12 curriculum as well as to prepare for the impact of ASEAN Economic Cooperation 2015.

“With ASEAN integration, at least at the economic front, in 2015; with K-12 and other transitions; with other big challenges to hurdle that agitate and knock out the sense in us that we academics are at the forefront of influencing public sector reform, fair and equitable public policies and good governance. We have a very important role in these endeavors,” Mendoza said. —Anna Regidor of UPDate Online