Benchmarking seminar inspires UCU administrators, educators to raise academic bar

With the commitment to continuously achieve quality education and academic service, university officials of Urdaneta City University gathered in a seminar on benchmarking methods and strategies on July 11, 2023 at the UCU Cafeteria.

The endeavor aimed to empower UCUian educators and administrators with innovative techniques to measure, assess, and elevate educational standards, with the hope to ultimately foster a culture of excellence and progress.

“Benchmarking is setting the standard,” stated Dr. Josephine S. Lambinicio, the Vice-President for Academic Affairs, in her opening remarks. “The expectation of the university is really great, so what are we going to do? To achieve this purpose, we have to be committed, dedicate ourselves in order to achieve the standard of the best performance of UCU,” she added.

Experts of the field namely Ms. Cynthia D. De Velez, a former educator at Philippine Military Academy, with her topic on the purpose, features, and importance of benchmarking, and Dr. Ellen M. Halover, a present faculty member of University of Baguio, with her topic on the different practices, strategies, and techniques in various areas of education through benchmarking, created a holistic learning environment, as participants were immersed in a comprehensive overview of benchmarking methods tailored specifically for academic settings such as research, instruction, and institutional innovations.

Ms. De Velez, one of the lecturers said that, “Benchmarking seeks to explore everyday problems, trends, new practices, and complex challenges, because there is the need to discover new methods to level up, for we have an uncertain world,” emphasizing the vital role of doing benchmarking not just in the academe, but also in other agencies and industries that strive to enhance their performance.

One of the highlights of the seminar was the open discussion on queries that were posed by the participants such as how to evaluate the efficiency of key performance indicators, what is the role of the culture of an institution toward the attainment of academic goals, and matters on research publication, quality assurance, and accreditation standards.