Congressman Roman Romulo exhorted participants in the “Higher Education Career System Presidential Leadership Conference and Consultation” to use the three-day conference to help the country’s state universities and colleges and their students in order to come closer to the goals enunciated under the Higher Education Reform Agenda.

Speaking at the gathering of presidents and vice presidents of state universities and colleges at the Marco Polo Hotel, Romulo, who chairs the House of Representatives’ Committee on Higher and Technical Education, said that he and the SUC executives have accomplished many things together but there remain many things that they still need to do to help SUCs and their students.

“I’m proud of the achievements we have made together but we have a lot of things we still need to do,” Romulo said.  “Use the next three days to help SUCs and our students.  Let’s come up with a plan not for one’s self but for everybody.”

SUC presidents and VPs thanked

The Pasig Congressman thanked the SUC presidents and vice presidents “for everything that we’ve done together for the past 2½ years” as he expressed the hope that the gathering would be successful and productive.

The conference is jointly organized by the Development Academy of the Philippines and the Commission on Higher Education as part of the Presidential Leadership Program, an initiative of the CHED in partnership with the DAP that is designed to train the best leaders in public higher education.  Working on the theme “Taking on the Growing Challenges in Philippine Higher Education,” the gathering was keynoted by CHED Chairperson Patricia Licuanan and opened by DAP President Antonio D. Kalaw, Jr.

Jumpstarting PLP learning sessions

The conference, which will jumpstart the implementation of learning sessions under the PLP, is expected to discuss current realities in leading and managing public higher education institutions, deepen the understanding of the key roles of SUC executives in implementing and sustaining higher education reforms, share practices in various aspects of SUC management and operations, and discuss the proposed elements and mechanics of the Higher Education Career System and the initial assessment of the 2011-2016 Roadmap for Public Higher Education Reform.

Among the speakers in the three-day conference are CHED Commissioner Alex Brillantes, National Economic and Development Authority Assistant Director General Rosemarie Edillon, university presidents Drs. Luis Maria Calingo (Holy Angel University), Ester Ogena (Philippine Normal University), Reynaldo Vea (Mapua Institute of Technology), Jesus Rodrigo Torres (Rizal Technological University), Emmanuel de Guzman (Polytechnic University of the Philippines),  and Ricardo Rotoras (Mindanao University of Science and Technology), former University of the Philippines-Diliman President Dr. Emerlinda Roman, and Dr. Jean Tayag of the CHEd.