Yepes receives regional PQA as her first official act as VSU President

Dr. Prose Ivy Guasa Yepes, the newly appointed 7th President of the Visayas State University system, received the Level 2 Philippine Quality Award from Regional Director Celerina T. Bato of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in a ceremony held on March 13, 2024 at the RDE Hall.

The newly installed Chief Steward received this recognition together with the four Vice Presidents of VSU namely Dr. Edgardo E. Tulin (Administration and Finance), Dr. Beatriz S. Belonias (Academic Affairs), Dr. Dennis P. Peque (Research, Extension and Innovation), and Dr. Aleli A. Villocino (Student Affairs and Services).

The PQA is the highest national recognition program that recognizes the achievements of public and private sector organizations in their journey toward performance excellence. 

It is a global competitiveness template that aims to encourage and engage public and private organizations and other stakeholders to strive for and attain excellence in the core operations of their institution.

In 2022, the PQA introduced a Regionalization Program that decentralized this prestigious award as a qualifying mechanism for the national recognition and eventual bestowment of the most coveted PQA Level IV recognition.

In Eastern Visayas, 5 other agencies will also be conferred with a PQA Level 2 status that also included 3 universities namely the Biliran Province State University (BiPSU), Southern Leyte State University (SLSU), and Eastern Samar State University (ESSU). VSU is the first to confer this award in the region.

In her first address to the VSU community, Dr. Yepes thanked the members of the Board of Regents (BOR) for their trust and confidence bestowed upon her to lead VSU in the next four years.

“It's with great pleasure and a deep sense of pride to welcome everyone to this event as this is my first big event that I’m attending as your 7th University President. With that, I’d like to thank the university’s governing board and the academic community for putting your trust and confidence in me to lead this prestigious university. Being granted the privilege to serve VSU is a true honor. The feeling has remained surreal from the day I took the oath as the new, humble steward of my beloved alma mater,” the new University President said.

Explaining what the PQA Level 2 status means, DTI Regional Director Celerina Bato said that VSU experienced a rigorous process during the assessment cycle of 2023.

“Reaching Level 2 or the recognition for proficiency in quality management is already a very significant milestone. This means that you have refined and responsive approaches, demonstrate innovation, excellent deployment, and good to excellent performance levels in most areas. In addition, there is also good to excellent integration with organizational analysis, learning, and sharing of best practices as your key management strategies in the university,” Director Bato emphasized.

Witnessing the conferment ceremony were representatives from various regional government agencies including the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the Civil Service Commission (CSC), and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

In an interview, the current Director for Quality Assurance Center Dr. Rotacio S. Gravoso said that the next two years will be devoted to preparation for the Level IV status, which is the highest commendation in the PQA.

To date, only 80 public and private corporations have become recipients of the national PQA since its inception in 1997. Of this number, 12 are academic institutions with no previous recipient from the group of state universities and colleges (SUCs).

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