TO DETERMINE CONFORMANCE to the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 and the established Quality Management System (QMS), the Pangasinan State University-Lingayen Campus (PSU-LC) underwent Internal Quality Audit (IQA) on November 3-4 held at Dr. Telesforo N. Boquiren Convention Hall.
The IQA which was organized by the Quality Assurance Office was also intended to identify conformities, non-conformities and opportunities for improvement for the established QMS.
“This audit is very important to identify challenges in the institution’s processes, most importantly during this pandemic crisis,” said by Dr. Weenalei T. Fajardo, Director for Institutional Assessment and Accreditation.
In the conduct of assessment, a blended modality which is a combination of face-to-face site visit and document browsing, and remote auditing, was implemented in response to the limitations brought about by the current situation.
Dr. Fajardo who is also the Team Leader of Internal Quality Auditors, also stated that the audit is a great challenge to prove that the institution is continuing its operation amidst the challenges that we are facing today.
The pool of Internal Quality Auditors was composed of Dr. Narciso F. Castro, Ms. Charlaine P. Lopez, Prof. Cristie Marie Dalisay, Dr. And Julie D. Rosal, Dr. Erna M. Salazar, Dr. Jenylyn V. Oboza, Dr. Melody C. de Vera, Dr. Salvacion M. Vinluan, Dr. Catalina C. Platon, Dr. Rosanna D. Gonzales, Dr. Jeanilyn L. Villanueva and Dr. Sally Jarin.
WHERE QUALITY BEGINS
Moreover, an opening meeting in the morning of November 3 was held to discuss the conduct of Quality Audit participated in by all campus process owners.
“Lingayen Campus is always the first in terms of quality. We are the first campus to be recognized as ISO Certified. We are always on the frontline in all accreditations and quality assurance assessments. Indeed, PSU Lingayen [Campus] is where quality begins,” Dr. Lorna G. Urbiztondo, Executive Director, said on her opening message.
It can be recalled that before the Multicampus ISO Certification of the university, the campus chronicled a history to be the first ISO 9001:2015 certified SUC in the region for the year 2016.
In the statement of Dr. Lorna G. Urbiztondo, the certification which was awarded last December 14, 2016, is a testament of how the campus embodies quality assurance culture in all facets of institutional processes and mechanisms.
Relative to the recognitions of the campus, the Lingayen is also now considered as one of the leading quality assurance hubs catering numerous benchmarking activities in the field of quality management system.
Said opening meeting was organized by the Campus Document Control Custodian, Mr. Eleazar C. de Jesus and Quality Assurance Campus Coordinator, Mr. Menard P. Nava to guide the conduct of IQA.
PURSUING THIRD RECERTIFICATION
Through all of these efforts, the university is looking forward to capture its third ISO 9001:2015 Recertification with the SOCOTEC Certification Phils Incorporated as certifying body.
“We are very positive to the forthcoming surveillance audit on January 2021 to get another nod in our journey towards quality,” the Internal Quality Team Leader said.
She added that the conducted IQA is a great avenue to check the readiness of the organization in all tertiary education services which include instruction, research, extension, production, university level management processes, performance evaluation and improvement processes, and campus support services, to the upcoming external assessment.
The office is still considering the possibility to have face-to-face audit if the pandemic situation gets better. But if time does not permit, the institution is still prepared given that it has undergone various online accreditation survey visits for the past months. /mmpd