May 10, 2013
Adventist University of the Philippines
Puting Kahoy, Silang 4118 Cavite
From the President’s Desk
Dear Friends,
On behalf of the AUP family, I would like to thank all of our Alumni for their support in the recent Convention. I gave updates about the progress of the College of Medicine project during the Convention but it was limited due to time constraint and moreover many were not able to come. In this letter, let me give you some more details.
I had reported last year about the results of the visits of the CHED Technical Committee on Medical Education and the GC International Board of education Survey Team. The Technical Committee denied our application to open in June 2013 but said we can reapply. The Survey Team, while affirming the recommendations of the Technical Committee, encouraged us to fulfill the recommendations so that we can open in June 2014. The Technical Committee’s recommendation that the training hospital be in the same political region as AUP was the main barrier in the COM plans. The visits with leaders of the provincial hospital in Trece Martires and the Governor of Cavite led us to conclude that the hospital’s training program will not be accredited by September 2013 when the Technical Committee returns to visit. The Batangas Regional Hospital has accredited programs but it is located in another province and it is farther than MAMC by distance and travel time. The only way forward is if MAMC be accepted as our training hospital. With much prayers, we submitted to the CHED Central Office an application for exemption from regulation about location, and appealed that since MAMC is our sister institution and within short travel time from the campus, it would be practical to use it as our base hospital.
We learned middle of March that the CHED approved our appeal. Great was the rejoicing for God’s goodness! The approval of MAMC as base hospital was the sign for us to move in full speed and prepare for the September revisit of the Technical Committee. What surprised us was that in the resolution was also the statement that we can open by June 2013.
It took us about two weeks to study the full implications of the permit since there were many factors involved.The first question was, “Are we ready?” We know for sure that we still have to meet the recommendations of the Technical Committee because they are valid standards of quality medical education. Another question was, “Can we make it for the IBE approval?” The Board was scheduled to meet less than three weeks after we received the resolution. For sure, we will not be able to submit the documents in time for the April 8 meeting. Will the IBE allow us to open in June 2013?
We studied carefully the things that needed to be done in a period of 10 weeks before the June 2013 class opening. The main difference between the IBE framework and that of the Technical Committee’s is that the IBE requirement before opening focuses primarily on the basic medical sciences; only on the second year are the preparations for the clinical sciences required in detail. The Technical Committee on the other hand required from us all the details from basic sciences to clinical training. Apart from the curriculum, they required syllabi, instructional design materials and schedules for each block/module, including assessment up to clerkship. Moreover, they required that faculty for the entire medical program be identified, trained, and involved in the preparation of instructional materials before starting the charter class. When we received the resolution, only instructional materials for the first year are ready. The faculty for the basic sciences had yet to meet for the first training session on April 7 because the training timetable had June 2014 in mind. In addition, we had to prepare the temporary facilities.
Another consideration was that, even if we will be ready to open, what about the students? We wanted to have the best students in the inaugural class. With only two months before the June 2013 opening, there would be no time to process application and select the best students. From all these considerations, it became clear to us by end of March that we were not ready to open in June 2013; the preparation time was just too short. I immediately notified the GC Education leaders that we will stick to the original plan of opening in June 2014. They were very happy because they, too, believe that we do not have enough time to avail of the June 2013 opening.
Another issue was, “Can [we] open [on] June 2014 even if the permit expires?” We knew that CHED permit to open is good only for the year stated, - that is school year June 2013-2014. Our concern was again the moratorium. We received communication from the CHED that we are not covered by the moratorium and the previous plan of a revisit in September 2013 still stands.
With MAMC as the training hospital resolved, we are now moving full speed. A group of 20-30 physicians have already met three times with our training consultants to learn innovative teaching methods and write the course materials they will use in teaching. Three leaders of the GC education department met with us last May 6 to assess what we have done to meet the recommendations. They were satisfied that we are on track for the June 2014 opening. The Dean, Dr. Doris Mendoza, will start working full time on June 1, 2013. The GC has begun processing the call of the two missionaries who will assist us in the preparations and later teach when the medical program begins.
The sale of Malitlit property is still in the negotiation stage with the possible buyers. Meanwhile, the University has advanced 10 million pesos so that the foundation phase of the COM building will be completed by the end of May. Our engineers modified the structures of the building from reinforced concrete to steel columns and beams to shortened construction time. The target is to have the shell finished by September or October 2013.
We need your continued support and prayers. We will need your suggestions on how we can intensify our fund raising for the COM building. There is a lot of work to be done but we thank the Lord that we can have a part in fulfilling the dream of starting the medical program.
Sincerely yours,
(Signed)
Francisco D.Gayoba, DTheol
President
= = =
From: Francisco Gayoba
Sent: Wed, Dec 12, 2012 9:53 pm
Dear Friends,
Following is the draft of the statement we will send in a
day or two to our supporters and alumni.
I am sending you first the draft in case you have any questions or
suggestions that may strengthen the final version. Please keep this version to yourself first.
Thank you so much again for your prayers and support.
FDGayoba
Last
November 23, 2012, the Survey Team appointed by the International Board of
Education (IBE) of the GC to study our application to open a medical school
gave their exit report after three days of work. The visit of the survey team came a month
after the visit of the CHED Technical Committee which denied our application to
open in June 2013. The Survey Team was
composed of directors and several associate directors of the GC Education,
Health, Chaplaincy and Treasury departments, as well as experienced educators
from Loma Linda and our division. The
Team will recommend to the IBE that AUP be allowed to open a medical college if
we meet the conditions they set. The
team gave specific suggestions on what AUP must do further and conferred with
various denominational entities to encourage their gather support in order to
open a medical school. I will outline
the challenges as we work hard so that we can resubmit our application to the
CHED. With the challenges, I will also
describe the solutions that are presently opening to us.
The first
condition given by the Survey Team is for AUP to deposit 11 million pesos with
SSD as a reserve to finance teach-out of the first cohort of medical students
expenses in case the medical program will not continue for unforeseen
circumstances. The Division
administrators, who were present during the exit report, promised that SSD
would lend AUP this amount.
The second
condition set by the Survey Team is for AUP to comply with the CHED Technical
Committee recommendations. The Technical
Committee required additional equipment and supplies in preparation for the
opening. Most of the recommendations
however, are related to curriculum and instruction. Unlike the traditional medical training, the
curriculum of the propose medical program will be competency based and problem
based, the teaching of theory and practice organized by organ system. Because of this, there needs to be intensive
faculty development of the faculty members facilitating the problem-based
learning. The Technical Committee also
expects that by the time they come for the revisit, the 10 to 20 instructors
professors needed for each organ system have already been identified and
scheduled. The faculty would have
thoroughly reviewed the proposed competencies, ascertained how and when they
will be taught within the curriculum, and most importantly, how competencies
will be assessed. All these, especially faculty training on teaching method,
preparation of course syllabi and materials including assessment, schedule of
instruction for each organ system have to be prepared by the time the Technical
Committee visits and decide if we are ready to open. At present, there is only Dr Demuel Berto
preparing all these, with Dr Doris Mendoza, the dean-elect, coming to the
campus once in a while because she is still a professor at West Visayas State
University.
The IBE
Survey Team therefore recommended that we find two full-time personnel who will
prepare for the targeted June 2014 opening, one to work in the Basic Sciences
and the other a Vice Dean for Clinical Sciences. At present we cannot find qualified people
who can work full time to do the work in our area or within SSD. The Survey Team mentioned that they have
several persons in mind who experienced in medical education who may be
available to help us in the founding stage of the medical school. The good news is, the SSD leaders immediately
committed two inter-division employee budgets for the preparation of the AUP
COM. These missionaries will stay for
two to three years to help us begin the medical college and train faculty. All that AUP needs to provide will be their
housing.
The
greater challenge is the issue of the base hospital. The good news is that the IBE Team did not
absolutely require that the base hospital be MAMC as long as a large amount of
clinical training be done there. The
Team visited two government hospitals in Region IV which can possibly be our
base hospital. These are Batangas
Regional Hospital in Batangas City and Emilio Aguinaldo Memorial Hospital in
Trece Martires. The week after the Team
left, Dr Miriam Narbarte went to the CHED central office to officially request
clarification on what “same geographic area” written in the CHED regulations
means. Meanwhile we have visited the
governor of Cavite province to get support for our affiliation with the
provincial hospital in Trece Martires in case we will be required a base
hospital within Cavite. The challenge
however is that the Aguinaldo Memorial Hospital is not yet accredited in all
the required departments. The first
choice therefore as base hospital is the Batangas Regional Hospital because it
has already all its departments accredited for medical training. We are waiting for the CHED reply, hoping
that a base hospital within the same region would be acceptable.
The IBE
Survey Team gave us a challenge during the exit report. Knowing that AUP has to resubmit its
application to CHED by June 2013 in order, if allowed, to open June 2014, the
challenge was to act in faith and timeliness.
This was a sobering challenge because we have to continue working even
as we wait for more definite indications.
We were already counseled by a CHED director to complete the
requirements as soon as possible because in view of the moratorium, our re
application may not even be entertained after 2014. Thus we cannot wait until we get word from
CHED if the Batangas Regional Hospital will be acceptable because the faculty
selection, training and curriculum materials preparations have to start
immediately. We will have to expend time
and effort and spend money even if we are not sure yet approval. The University had already spent almost two
million pesos to date in the preparation.
We estimate that we will have to spend another two million more just to
prepare for the re-application. This
dream of starting a medical school will indeed need faith. What if, having spent so much time and
effort, we will still not be approved?
The counsel of our church leaders in the Survey Team was to work hard
and try, praying that we can open June 2014.
The challenge given was to move with timeliness and courage and not
doubt. This is a challenge the
University accepts. If having worked
hard, the CHED will not grant permission open a medical school in 2014, let it
be so. The SSD already gave 4 million
pesos for the building and committed, in faith,
an additional 12 million pesos for salaries of the two curriculum
specialist. The University can do no
less. Our constituencies, alumni, and
friends can expect the best effort from us.
We ask the prayers and support for those moved by the Spirit to make the
dream of a College of Medicine come true.
Francisco D Gayoba, DTheol
President
Adventist University of the Philippines
