Participants from various UPOU offices and units gather for the UPOU QA Workshop 2025
The University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU), through its Quality Assurance Office (QAO), conducted the UPOU Quality Assurance Workshop 2025 on 15 December 2025 with the theme “LaK(qc)Bai: Sama-samang Paglalakbay Tungo sa Kalidad na Edukasyon (A Collective Journey Toward Quality Education),” bringing together office and unit heads, faculty secretaries, and program chairs in a collective effort to strengthen quality assurance across academic and administrative functions.
The workshop highlighted the theme LaQCbai, which reflects enthusiasm and motivation (La), a strong focus on quality control (QC) or kalidad (K), and the spirit of collaboration and companionship (Bai). This theme framed the day’s activities as a collective journey toward ensuring quality education at UPOU.
Chancellor Joane V. Serrano delivers her opening remarks during the UPOU QA Workshop
In her opening remarks, UPOU Chancellor Prof. Joane V. Serrano emphasized that quality assurance is a fundamental, university-wide responsibility that must be intentionally integrated from the very beginning of all initiatives. She stressed that quality assurance should already be embedded at the planning and design stages, guiding decision-making and setting clear standards before implementation begins and throughout everyday practice. She further noted that quality assurance is not confined to a single office or process, but requires alignment, collaboration, and shared accountability across all academic and administrative units.
Assoc. Prof. Aurora V. Lacaste, VCAA (left), and Prof. Jean A. Saludadez, VCFA (right), share insights on academic and administrative quality assurance perspectives at UPOU.
Providing the academic perspective, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (VCAA), Assoc. Prof. Aurora V. Lacaste emphasized the importance of aligning quality assurance practices with teaching, learning, and program development. Meanwhile, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration (VCFA), Prof. Jean A. Saludadez, highlighted the critical role of administrative units in supporting and sustaining quality outcomes.
Workshop participants engage in collaborative and interactive activities during the UPOU QA Workshop.
The workshop featured a series of interactive and participatory activities designed to deepen participants’ understanding of the UPOU student journey, from enrollment to graduation and lifelong learning, and to clarify how unit-level roles and processes contribute to the overall student experience. Participants engaged in mapping the learner journey, identifying unit contributions, setting quality commitments and service standards, and developing initial skeletons for their respective unit-level QA Playbooks.
QAO Director Ria Valerie Cabanes provides synthesis and guidance during the QA Workshop.
According to Asst. Prof. Ria Valerie Cabanes, Director of the Quality Assurance Office, the workshop serves as the foundational phase of a multi-phase institutional quality assurance initiative. It marks the beginning of a structured and sustained effort to strengthen quality assurance across UPOU, noting that the outputs generated by the units will directly inform the development of the university’s first QA Playbook and guide succeeding phases focused on standardization and continuous improvement.
The UPOU QA Workshop 2025 represents Phase 1 of a broader initiative aimed at institutionalizing quality assurance across both academic and administrative functions. Subsequent phases will focus on the development of standardized QA templates, QA dashboards, evidence management systems, and internal and external QA readiness.
By convening key academic and administrative leaders and fostering collaboration across units, UPOU reaffirms its commitment to embedding quality in everyday practice and ensuring a meaningful, coherent, and high-quality learning experience for all students.
Written by Loren Sta. Ana | Edited by Ria Valerie D. Cabanes
