Celtech college celebrates 50 years

MANILA, Philippines - In celEbrating its 50th founding anniversary this year, the Central Luzon College of Science and Technology traces with pride its legacy to the pioneering work of Helen P. Legaspi when she opened the Artistic Vocational School (AVS) on Sept. 24, 1959 in San Fernando, Pampanga.

The Celtech College, as it is known today, has evolved into a model institution of higher learning by providing affordable quality education to the children of financially disadvantaged and average-income families from Pampanga, Tarlac, Bataan and Zambales provinces.

Focused on its vision to provide quality and globally-competititve education for the Filipino youth, the Celtech College is totally committed to being “a leading career development and education center for maritime, health care, business and public administration, applied science, and technical-vocational courses to meet the manpower requirements of an industrializing and economically strong Philippines in the third millennium,” declares Dr. Renato Legaspi, college president and chairman of the board of trustees.

In charting the future of the college, Legaspi states: “In the next few years, we shall invest our efforts and resources in building the strong foundations of a good private university. We will not only strive to be a destination center of excellence in the Philippine education highway in Central Luzon, but we will seek to be a mainstream player in education for regional and national development. That is why the focus of our collective efforts, during and beyond our gold anniversary celebration, is transformative education for national transformation.”

Occupying the building of the former Olongapo Doctor’s Hospital in Upper Kalaklan, Olongapo City, the main college campus houses must of its curricular programs.

Reminiscing the struggling years in the seventies and eighties, Dr. Delia Legaspi, executive vice president and CEO of the college, said that the Olongapo City branch campus was home to the Amerasians for their technical-vocational courses and college education.

“The student population of Celtech College consisted predominantly of Amerasians who were children of US servicemen by Filipino mothers who were stationed in the American naval bases in Olongapo and Subic,” Legaspi recalls.

Continually serving and keeping in step with the need to cater to the educational aspirations of the youth in Region 3, particularly in the Subic and Clark economic zones, Olongapo City, Zambales, Bataan, Tarlac and Pampanga, Celtech College aspires to be a model institution for values-driven and globally competitive education that guarantees employment locally and overseas.

The quality system that guides the efforts of the school to raise the bar of academic excellence is directed by Dr. Paulo Legaspi, SVP of the college. He spearheaded the school ISO 9001:2000 certification by the Anglo-Japanese-American Environmental Quality System and its accreditation by the London-based United Kingdom Accreditation Society.

Today, Celtech College prides itself not only for its modern facilities but more so for its highly-trained graduates annually producing a high percentage of passers in TESDA trade tests in electrical, refrigeration and air-conditioning technology, as well as in the professional board examinations in customs administration, marine engineering, marine transportation, criminology and nursing.

With its three campuses in Olongapo City, Zambales and San Fernando, Pampanga, Celtech College is one of the fastest developing schools in the region as it firmly commits itself to be on the cutting edge of quality higher education in the service of God, country, and the Filipino people.

The writer is chancellor and senior vice president for academic affairs of Celtech College.