9 December 2021

Mapúa University notes AUN-QA’s unique and thorough approach that goes beyond their expectations

By
Noppanun Sookping
AUN Programme Officer;

The mission of providing quality assurance services to higher education institutions across the ASEAN region has led the AUN-QA to another wonderful experience in the 209th AUN-QA Programme Assessment (Online/Remote Site Visit) at Mapúa University on 15 – 19 November 2021.

Mapúa University is one of the top Asian universities located in Intramuros and Makati, Manila, the Philippines. The university offers academic excellence and higher education in various fields including engineering, sciences, architecture and design, information technology, communication and media studies, social sciences and education, and accountancy and business management.  

Mapúa University is regarded highly at the national and international level. The university obtained a 4-star overall rating for excellence, a 5-star rating in the categories of Employability, Facilities, and social responsibility, and a 4-star rating in the categories of Teaching and Inclusiveness. It has also been recognized by Times Higher Education (THE) for its social and economic impact, placing in the Partnership for the Goals category of the inaugural THE University Impact Rankings. In terms of technology-integrated education, Mapua is also the first school in the Philippines to offer CHED-approved fully online undergraduate programmes.

Collaboration with AUN-QA

In 2020, Mapúa University applied four of its study programmes for AUN-QA Programme Assessment, including: 

  • Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering,
  • Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering,
  • Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering
  • Bachelor of Science in Architecture programs.

According to Mapúa University, assessment of programmes by other quality assurance and accreditation agencies can help ensure and sustain continuous improvement of the university’s academic programmes. For the AUN-QA, the AUN Thematic Network stands out for its developmental and non-descriptive approach to the delivery of benchmarking and quality assurance services. With this reason, the university believed that the programme assessment by the AUN-QA will strengthen and confirm the quality of education that its academic programmes offer.

Throughout the 209th AUN-QA Programme Assessment, Mapúa University and the AUN-QA team and the AUN Assessors collaborated well as they were navigating through the assessment of the four programmes together. While the programme assessment itself, especially when organized in an online/remote site visit format, created a rather challenging and demanding experience, the university described the AUN-QA Assessors as “very thorough, polite, and objective in doing their tasks”. 

Meeting the expectations & creating a unique experience

With a substantial amount of time and resources invested into the preparation for each AUN-QA Programme Assessment, the AUN-QA anticipates the host university’s expectation for an insightful, effective, and satisfactory experience. In this regard, the AUN-QA upholds its aim to meet such expectations by ensuring high quality, honest and unique quality assurance services to the university. The continuation of this mandate was demonstrated once again in the 209th AUN-QA Programme Assessment at Mapúa University.
According to the feedback from the university team, the quality assurance assessments of Mapúa University’s four programmes were beyond the university’s initial expectations. The university praised the thoroughness and insightfulness of the AUN-QA Assessors when appraising each programme; their comments and suggestions highlighted some areas of strengths as well as areas that required improvement in the university’s assessed programmes. 

In addition, Mapúa University commended the AUN-QA for its promotion of educational standard harmony and embracement of Outcome-Based Education (OBE). According to the university, the uniqueness of the AUN-QA assessment is in its thoroughness and engaging involvement of essential stakeholders such as students, the alumni, and employers. All of these values upheld by the AUN-QA will positively impact the programmes run by Mapúa University, leading to continuous improvement in terms of quality and delivery of higher education.

By building trust through the delivery of excellent and effective quality assurance services in different levels, the AUN-QA continues its mission as one of the major higher education quality assurance agencies in the ASEAN region.

Opportunity for further collaboration 

Shortly following the programme assessment, Mapúa University has shown aspiration to have an AUN-QA institutional assessment in the future as another step in achieving its vision to be among the best universities in the world. The AUN-QA highly appreciates such feedback and impressions by the university as they are essential to the AUN-QA’s never-ending efforts to improve its quality assurance services to higher education across the ASEAN region. 

The AUN-QA would like to extend its gratitude to Mapúa University for such an amazing experience in the successful organization of the 209th AUN-QA Programme Assessment; it is looking forward to collaborating with the university again in the future.