VSU prexy presents paper in PCAARRD-sponsored training course; attends executive course in education mgt. and leadership

Dr. Jose L. Bacusmo, VSU President, has been invited by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) to speak on the topic "Generating and Managing Resources for R&D" during the training course on "Enhancing Effectiveness and Impact of R&D: The Role of Managerial Leadership." The training was held on September 24-28, 2012 at the Bulwagang Panday Karunungan in PCAARRD, Los Baños aimed at developing a cadre of effective manager leaders who could steer research functional units/programs, while unlocking the potential of others to achieve the intended results.

In his presentation entitled "Grantsmanship for R&D", Dr. Bacusmo defined granstmanship as the art/skills of obtaining grants, not all about writing a winning proposal (in which proposal writing is only a part of the process), and involves decisions and actions way before the proposal writing (as an institution and as a researcher).

The VSU President shared to the participants the seven areas that are basic of grantsmanship. These are:

1) Carve a niche in ecology by observing the particular area within a habitat occupied by an organism how does it function or its position within an ecological community. In building a niche in R&D system, Dr. Bacusmo emphasized that it is important to know the mandate, focus and specialization of the system. There is also a need to set the institution's R&D agenda or priorities;

2) Develop expertise by recruiting researchers, sending scholars for advance degrees with pre-identified disciplines, and attending conferences/fora, training, workshops that are needed in capacitating institutional capabilities;

3) Develop facilities in which he emphasized that it is least expensive to develop facilities in the field but laboratories will do for as long as research focus and funding are secured;

4) Organize and develop system by setting up research units, appointing coordinator, and develop a system on fund management, workloading/deloading and budget allocation for R&D before starting on selected focus;

5) Look for partners/funders in meetings and conferences attended and know their mission, priorities and directions. Collaborate with them instead of competing, empower researchers to look for funding of their research that are in line with the institution's mission or research agenda, and always be humble and extend goodwill. Dr. Bacusmo reinforced his discussion by sharing VSU's experiences in collaborating with various local and international funding agencies;

6) Prepare a winning proposal based on the five review criteria: significance, approach, innovation, investigator, and environment and submit the proposal on time; and

7) Take care of your partners and funders.

The VSU President also proceeded to Legazpi City to attend the "Executive Course in Education Management and Leadership" organized by the Commission on Higher Education and the Development Academy of the Philippines in partnership with the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges.

The executive development program for state universities and colleges was conducted on September 27-29, 2012 at the Oriental Hotel in Legazpi City with the theme "Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: The Context of Educational Management and Leadership."

It aimed to equip the SUC Presidents with relevant and practice-based competencies that are indispensable to effective and efficient management and leadership in SUCs. Furthermore, the course envisions molding participants into becoming ethical servant leaders, visionary strategists, skilled marketers and innovative entrepreneurs.

The participants composed of presidents of all state colleges and universities (SUCs) in the country were engrossed with various topics presented by the resource persons such as: the overview on CHED higher education road map and state of public higher education institutions in the Philippines; spirituality of leadership, servanthood and humility; situation review on the external and internal conditions affecting Philippine SUCs, philosophies of education, challenges facing Philippine SUCs in the 21st century, and corporate governance for SUCs.

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