COA hails mountain university

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) has cited a school in the Cordilleras for the notable performance of its graduates in licensure examinations last year.

State auditors hailed school officials of the Benguet State University (BSU), which used to be known as the Mountain State Agricultural College, led by its president, Rogelio Colting, for its achievements in the areas of agriculture, agricultural engineering, nutrition and dietetics, veterinarian, and teacher education.

Based on the performance of BSU graduates, the university was cited as second top performing school with 10 or more examinees passing the Nutrition-Dietitian Licensure Examination last year.

It was also the second top performing school with 10 or more examinees for the Librarian Licensure Examination and the 8th top performing school with 100 or more examinees for the Nursing licensure examination held in July 2010.

The COA report noted that 82 percent or 41 out of 50 of the BSU’s degree programs have undergone accreditation and/or evaluation by the Accrediting Agency for Chartered Colleges and Universities. Seven of these are PhD programs, 26 are Master’s programs and 16 are baccalaureate programs.

In terms of level of accreditation, 20 degree programs of the school are on accredited or re-accredited Level III status, three are on Level II, and 16 are on candidate status.

Located in La Trinidad, Benguet, the school seeks to “develop people imbued with a culture of excellence and social conscience, who actively promote environment-friendly technologies for improving the quality of life.”

Guided by its vision of becoming a premier university in highland agriculture and its allied fields, and in science and technology throughout Southeast Asia, state auditors said BSU has broadened its programs, yet focused on strategic strengths in each program, particularly in response to the 10-point agenda of the national government.

COA reports, which usually focus on irregularities, accounting errors, and possible misuse of funds, also cites government agencies and government-owned and controlled corporations for good work.

State auditors recently lauded Ilocos Norte, the hometown of the late strongman former president Ferdinand Marcos, which is now being run by his eldest daughter Imee Marcos, for posting P1.02-billion income in 2010.

Commending the provincial government, COA said the province exceeded its target income by more than P375 million or by 58.09 percent.

COA also recently hailed the Department of Tourism (DOT), then headed by Alberto Lim, for doing a good job at promoting the Philippines as a prime tourist destination in Asia in 2010.

State auditors said the tourism industry posted a 14 percent growth or an additional 1.1 million tourists who visited the country’s major attractions in 2010.