ABC Higher Education institution (HEI) Center of Excellence: Towards a School of First Choice for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program

Abstract

Achieving sustainable competitive advantage has become crucial for every organization, including educational institutions. Organizational success depends on effectively using resources and capabilities to tap the opportunities in the external environment. Organizations must pay enough attention to strategy formulation, choice, and implementation (Burnes, 2009).

Unlike other countries, the Philippines has numerous universities/colleges scattered around the three primary island groups of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. As reported by the Office of Planning, Research, and Knowledge Management – Knowledge Management Division of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), for AY 2019-2020, there are 1,729 private HEIs in the country (CHED, 2020). To be a university of first choice for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, ABC HEI must be strategic in its intent and direction, specifically in instructional quality, research and publication, extension and linkages, and institutional qualifications.

The overall approach of the study is qualitative to get a comprehensive summarization of the current profile of ABC HEI using the CHED COD/COE criteria as a reference and formulate a strategic framework towards being the school of first choice for the Nursing program within its locality.

Using the CHED COD/COE assessment rubrics, study findings reveal that the ABC HEI has weaknesses or gaps that must be explicitly addressed in instructional quality, research & publication, extension & linkages, and institutional qualifications. Gaps are identified in the Processes and Procedures; thereby, Proofs showing compliance with the requirements are unavailable. In terms of Policies, some are emplaced, but these need to be strengthened. ABC HEI could not satisfy the requirements for Research and Publication, particularly in the compliance area of People.

With the current profile of ABC HEI concerning the CHED COD/COE criteria and the extent of its compliance with the specific criteria requirements, ABC HEI needs to review, update, and extend its policies to include provisions on process deployment and procedural guidelines that shall strengthen its operations in the areas of instructional quality, research and publication, extension and linkages, and institutional qualifications. The school also needs to identify, appoint, and capacitate process owners and personnel concerned to perform the processes and procedures as well as use technology, i.e., applications and software tools, that can complement the deployment of processes and procedures and allows for the quick generation of data for analytics to support decisions that school administrators must make.