The University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) will be celebrating its 27th founding anniversary on 23 February 2022. This celebration carries the theme “University of the Future: Reimaginations, Reconfigurations, Realizations.”
The 27th Anniversary Program will be held virtually in the morning of the 23rd. Activities for the year prepared by various UPOU offices will be launched, and the winners of the Gawad Chancellor Award for Outstanding UPOU Personnel will be announced. Past and present partners of UPOU will also be recognized. The program will be live streamed via the UPOU website and the UPOU Facebook Page for the UPOU community and the public.
The afternoon will be devoted to a Family Day for all UPOU faculty and staff, where employees who have loyally served the university will be recognized, and new members of the UPOU Family will be introduced.
Another highlight of the celebration is a virtual webinar that UPOU is holding in collaboration with the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) on 25 February 2022, 10:00 AM. UPOU Chancellor, Dr. Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria, will be speaking in the “AAOU Webinar Series 2022: (R)evolution of ODL.” She will speak on the topic under the sub-theme “The ‘Shape’ of ODL Post-Covid19,” together with Dr. James Brown, Advisory Board member of the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) and the new editor of the USDLA Newsletter. He is also known as the “Godfather of Online Science,” for his advocacy and pioneer work in delivering science courses online. The webinar will be moderated by Dr. Tahira Bibi, Medical Officer at Intensive Care Unit at Bahria International Hospital and Hameeda Memorial Hospital in Bahrain. This webinar is open to the public and will be streamed via Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_khlhcY3G8.
Since UPOU’s establishment in 1995, it has advocated for the delivery of quality higher education through alternative means. Throughout UPOU’s 27 years, UPOU has continued to configure and reconfigure its mode of delivery to address the needs of the times, and to prepare for the demands of the fast-approaching future of education. The COVID-19 pandemic may have plagued the world and crippled most of the education system in the country and the world. But UPOU continually strives to provide open and distance education so no matter what crisis may come, learning will not cease and knowledge is always accessible, to equip and empower Filipinos all over the world. True to its tradition, the UPOU shall continue to set its sights beyond the horizon.