Philippine E-Journals

Exploring a Credentialing Program across Disciplines as a Faculty Development Strategy: Trinity University of Asia

Elias Mulenga Sampa

Discipline: Education

 

Abstract:

The study was undertaken to basically explore possibilities to link Faculty Development (FD) to the Equivalency degree granting model. It examined the state of the faculty in the country’s tertiary institutions and the role of Faculty Development in impacting educational quality. The research utilized Meta-Analysis approach on 25 selected dissertations and theses conducted on the subject from five private universities. This was complemented by an inclusion of State sources from the 1990s to the most recent and interview with key informants. The informants came from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), accrediting agencies, educational leaders, authors, educational legal experts and members of professional organizations working for educational quality.

 

It was discovered that a tension does exist between the common understanding of Faculty Development (FD) and the actual reality found in the FD practices. As a result FD has tended to be activities-oriented and not purpose-driven in the service of educational goals. It was revealed that almost 60% of the nation’s tertiary faculty has no graduate degree which is considered as an official index of “qualified and competent” that teach in the tertiary level. This is due to many situational obstacles: funding, distance, opportunities, and lack of a system to credit professional competencies acquired by the faculty outside the formal system.

 

This study argues with adequate evidence and prototype design, that FD is a function of making the faculty competent and qualified. Since a graduate degree is credential established as a minimum measure of “competence and qualified” for tertiary faculty, expanding the paths for obtaining graduate degrees via a systematic credentialing system following the equivalency model can make a substantive difference and optimize the use of faculty development funds while sustaining quality and focus on realizing institutional purposes and goals and eliminating or minimizing mismatches.