Benilde continues to blaze the trail as the College’s School of Management and Information Technology (SMIT) and School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management (SHRIM) was given recognition and accreditation status by Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU), respectively.
Centers of Excellence Named
In the CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 38, series of 2015 which was released last December 23, the college’s Business Administration courses under SMIT and Hotel and Restaurant Management program under SHRIM were identified as Center for Excellence (COE).
COE, as defined on its CMO No. 10, series of 2007, are “colleges/departments within Higher Education Institutions (HEI) offering distinct business and management programs that have continuously exhibited an excellent ability to produce quality business and management professionals relevant to the needs of industry, to conduct research that contributes to the body of knowledge in the field, and to engage in extension service that contributes to national development.”
Both Business Administration and Hotel and Restaurant Management areas that the college gained recognition were under Business and Management Education category, along with other areas such as Accountancy, Customs Administration, Entrepreneurship, Office Administration and Tourism as per CMO no. 10.
Being identified as COE, Benilde can now avail financial support to further develop and improve the said courses on a project proposal basis—either into development or improvement of the programs, “particularly cutting-edge technology in the different disciplines” as per the said CMO No. 38, given that the project should abide on the policies cited in the respective CMOs.
“Now, being recognized as CHED’s Center of Excellence alongside our PAASCU accreditations, aside from the various achievements that our College, our students, graduates and faculty has achieved, we are keeping inspiration to these milestones and testimonies that our degree offerings are amongst the best if not the best in the various discipline that our students are trained and made to know,” said SMIT dean Dr. Edward Moises in his Facebook post regarding the said recognition.
The said COEs are considered to be an “unprecedented achievement,” as mentioned by Br. Dennis Magbanua FSC on his email to the Benildean personnel, given the fact that Benilde is a young institution and that it is the first time the college applied for such recognition. The given designation will be valid for three years, effective January 1, 2016 until December 31, 2018.
PAASCU level IV for HRIM
In line with the recognition from CHED, PAASCU acknowledged SHRIM’s Hotel Restaurant and Institution Management program (HRIM) for passing the level IV PAASCU accreditation, making SHRIM the first and only hotel school in the Philippines recognized by PAASCU and Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP).
According to De La Salle University’s (DLSU) website, level four accredited status means that the said program is highly respected as a very high quality academic program in the Philippines and with prestige and authority comparable to similar program in excellent foreign universities.
The following are benefits and incentives of a level IV accreditation:
- All the benefits for Level I, II, and III. To see full list of benefits, please refer to http://www.dlsu.edu.ph/offices/iaa/paascu/.
- Grant of full autonomy for the program for the duration of its Level IV accredited status.
- Authority to offer new graduate programs allied to existing level four courses, open learning/distance education and extension classes without need for prior approval by CHED provided that the concerned CHEDRO is duly informed.
“It think the school really deserves the level IV PAASCU accreditation. The program is really well planned for students like us who aspire to be future hoteliers,“ shares HRIM sophomore Mariel Lagana.
Written by Katrina Mariano and Jason Fajardo.
Photo courtesy of CHED
