UPOU faculty members on a study visit in Central Queensland University
To enhance the technical knowledge and the competence in developing learning materials and course packages on land valuation management, a team of UP Open University faculty members went on a study visit in Central Queensland University (CQU), Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia.
Through the immersion visit, the members of the team shall be exposed to the theoretical and practical rudiments and to the challenges of property and statutory valuation and taxation, land laws, land use planning, built environment, and land management and development.
The UPOU team, comprised of Prof. Cesar Luna (the group's Team Leader), Prof. Juvy Lizette Gervacio, Prof. Maribec Campos, Prof. Al Francis Librero, Prof. Mark Castillo and Prof. Maria Fe Villlamejor-Mendoza, Dean of the Faculty of Management and Development Studies (FMDS), is joined by two resource persons from the public and private sectors of the local real property valuation industry. They are Mr. Raul Punzalan, Assistant Vice President of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation and Mr. Florencio Diño, OIC Regional Director of the Bureau of Local Government Finance- Region V. The whole team will stay in Australia from 30 May to 27 June 2009.
The Faculty of Arts, Business, Informatics and Education of CQU led by Prof. Terry Boyd, who is an expert in property valuation, is conducting the capacity enhancement activities for the UPOU team.
From 20 to 27 June 2009, the team will go to Brisbane, Australia for exposure sessions with industry regulators and others involved in land valuation management – the Australian Property Institute, National Australia Bank Property Division, Queensland Land Court, Department of Public Works and Highway, Queensland University of Technology, Village Square, Hope Island Management Services and Landmark White Valuers.
The team's immersion visit to CQU is one of the components of the agreement between the Second Land Administration and Management Project (LAMP2) and UP Open University.
Dean Mendoza said that FMDS will start accepting students to, initially, three stand alone non-formal courses on land valuation and management, by the third quarter of 2010. Later, a full-blown Diploma or Graduate Certificate Course on Land/Property Valuation and Management of UPOU shall be developed and proposed for approval to appropriate University bodies and the Board of Regents by 2010-2011. When offered, it shall be the first formal program on Land Valuation Management in the Philippines.
Date posted: June 16, 2009