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Metro-Dagupan Colleges
February 2007

The school that builds your future

Mangaldan in Pangasinan, located 220 kilometers north of Manila, is the "catch basin" of all physical and socio-economic developments northeast of Dagupan City considered the "commercial center of Northern Philippines." Part of the CAMADA (Calasiao, Mangaldan, Dagupan) development area, Mangaldan is a bustling agro-industrial center in the region.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

One of the two "gateways" of Region I going up to the tip of Northwestern Philippines, Mangaldan is a coastal urban town surrounded by seven municipalities - all without any higher education institution.

Aware of Mangaldan's needs and role in the area, leaders headed by Dr. Roberto delos Reyes founded in 1996 the Metro-Dagupan Colleges at the very heart of Mangaldan town. The founders projected that as the population in all the surrounding towns and in Mangaldan itself grows rapidly, enrolment will increase in Metro-Dagupan Colleges over the next several years.

The Metro-Dagupan Colleges in
Mangaldan in Pangasinan.Metro-Dagupan Colleges started in June 1996 with seven collegiate and two graduate degree courses with an initial enrolment of only 202 students. Yearly, the enrolment increased.

In 1999, the Metro-Dagupan Colleges produced with flying colors its first Board-passers in the Criminology Board Examination (100 percent passing rate) and in the Professional Examination for Teachers (14 passed out of 16 who took the test).Since then, this record of board-passers has been consistently maintained

In 2000, the municipality of Mangaldan, in tandem with the Metro-Dagupan Colleges, established a Mangaldan Technology and Livelihood Development Center based in Metro-Dagupan Colleges. It is now being used by the College to train and assist Pangasinan out-of-school youth and adults to put up their own small or medium businesses.

Awareness of this scheme is increasingly gaining advocates and supporters from parents who send their children to the Metro-Dagupan Colleges to take up short-term and one-year technical courses.

The Institutional Directorate

The Metro-Dagupan Colleges is run by very experienced top managers. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Dr. Roberto A. de los Reyes, is a BS in Industrial Education graduate, a Master’s degree holder in educational management, and holds a Doctor of Education degree in Educational Administration. He is well-known throughout the region and many parts of the Philippines.

The College President, Ms. Mae Timonera-de los Reyes, has an AB in Economics and a Master in Education degree with major in Educational Management. She has more than 16 years of teaching and administrative experience.

The first Vice-chairman of the Board, Atty. Benigno Gubatan, was, until his death, the Municipal Mayor of Mangaldan for more than 12 years. He was nationally famous for his excellent human and public relations with the community people who are the potential clientele of the College. He earned a Bachelor of Laws degree and was about to finish master’s degree in public administration when he died due to a vehicular accident. He was succeeded in the MDC Board of Trustees by his equally-educated daughter, Judith Gubatan, who has a BS in Business Administration degree major in Management, and is at present a Municipal Councilor of the municipality of Mangaldan.

The College Registrar and Corporate Treasurer, Romae R. de Asis, holds the third top-management position in the College. She has earned a BS degree in Medical Technology, and is a licensed professional medical technologist. She also has a Bachelor of Science in Criminology degree, is a registered Professional Criminologist, and holds the degree of Master in Public Administration. She has extensive training and experience in the management of both student and financial accounting.

The fifth member of the Board of Trustees is Conrado T. de los Reyes II who is a prominent computer and information technology consultant in Metro-Manila. He has been consulted by more than 10 big business corporations throughout his professional career. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the De La Salle University.

PRESENT TIMES

Today, the Educational Philosophy for the establishment and development of the Metro-Dagupan Colleges is firmly anchored on the following vision:

"It is the vision of the founders of Metro- Dagupan Colleges to establish a College of the future - one where modern technology will support educational plans and programs of the young and adults within the service area of the Institution. It is envisioned to be the ‘College that Builds the Future of the people."

Fully guided by this, the Metro-Dagupan Colleges is at present providing a full gamut of educational programs to the public - from a science high school, to collegiate courses, to graduate degree programs.

In line with its Mission Statement that "In pursuit of educational superiority, the Metro-Dagupan Colleges is committed to the vision of producing world-class graduates who can be globally competitive in their chosen fields of endeavor", and within an institutional environment of dynamic instruction, applied research, and community outreach program, the Metro-Dagupan Colleges strives to attain the following long-range objectives:

1. To produce world-class professionals, technologists, and technicians whose level of knowledge, attitudes, and skills will significantly contribute to their personal and social development.

2. To develop advanced professional researchers and positive-minded business and industrial entrepreneurs, managers, teachers, and middle-level manpower for the private and public sectors of society, and

3. To influence the communities within the service area of the College towards a systematic planning and implementation of their own development.

In response to the above-stated mission and objectives, the Metro-Dagupan Colleges is now offering the following courses and programs:

A. Graduate Programs - (for professionals and civil service employees and managers of private companies and public offices:) 1. Master in Business Administration, with majors in International Business Management; Small- and Medium-Scale Enterprise Management; Senior Executive MBA; a General MBA. 2. Master in Public Administration, with majors in Local Government Management; Public Safety Management (Police, Fire, Jail); a General MPA program; Development Planning and Management; School Administration and Management; Educational and Instructional Management (with 12 subject specializations).

B. Collegiate Programs - (for full-time and part-time students taking the day or evening classes) 1. Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, with majors in Computer Technology; Information Technology 2. Bachelor of Elementary Education 3. Bachelor of Secondary Education, with majors in - Science and Technology, English, Values Education, Technology and Home Economics, Filipino, Mathematics, MAPEH, Social Studies. 4. Bachelor of Science in Criminology 5. Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications 6. Bachelor of Science in Tourism, with majors in Hotel and Restaurant Management, Travel Management. 7. Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with majors in Accounting Management, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Executive Office Management. 8. Bachelor of Science in Accountancy. Three of these courses operate under a Ladderized scheme since 1996.

C. Secondary Education. A four-year Special Science High School curriculum is offered for elementary school graduates who belong to the upper 20 percent of the graduating classes.

D. Elementary Level. A pre-school and elementary grades programs are operated by a sister affiliate institution - the Golden Angels Educational Institution Playschool and Grade School also in Mangaldan..

FUTURE PLANS

New Thrusts in Employability. The Metro-Dagupan Colleges is focused on unique and distinctive programs at the collegiate and graduate levels. Since jobs and employment opportunities are not very easy to find nowadays because of the economic situation worldwide, the College is embarking on a policy of training for entrepreneurship and self-employment. Thus, in all collegiate courses, the subject "Entrepreneurship" is being offered at the third curriculum year where the students are required to participate in income-generating projects of the College under a supervised scheme. This will not only acquaint the students on various possibilities for self-employment in their chosen courses (such as tutoring, home-based businesses, etc.), but will also provide income to them which they are required to deposit in a savings bank. During their fourth year, the savings they had accumulated are then used to put up their own businesses which will be a requirement for graduation.

The uniqueness of the programs and courses at Metro-Dagupan Colleges is the key to the attraction of the College to students. Metro-Dagupan Colleges will capitalize on the ambition of families for their children to have adequate skills for jobs by requiring all third year students in all courses who are at present taking up a subject in "entrepreneurship". Part of the intensification plan is for the third year students participating in college-based income-generating projects to place their earnings in individual savings account. During their fourth year and as a requirement for graduation, the students will be required to put up their own home-based (community-based) business related to their major field of specialization using their savings as seed capital.

Infrastructure development projects in the Metro-Dagupan Colleges within the next several years will be undertaken to meet the increasing demand for new physical and technological facilities needed to respond to changes in the business and industrial environment. This will include the construction of an additional wing of the proposed hexagonal building, acquisition of additional educational facilities needed for the existing and proposed programs in the secondary, collegiate, and graduate courses, including the proposed Productivity High School,

Part of the medium-range plan is the establishment of an International College for Entrepreneurs (ICE) which is being worked out in tandem with the Polytechnic University of New York for some years now and with other interested parties.

A key feature of the current focus of the Metro-Dagupan Colleges now is the emphasis on networking with outside institutions and companies for the job placement of graduating students of the College. Continuing dialogues with key industrial and business people in and outside the Region is being undertaken by the Office of Student Life and Alumni Relations (OSLAR). It is the aim of the College that at the time of graduation, those who are candidates would have landed already jobs or are self-employed by the time they march to receive their diplomas.

Since 1996, the Metro-Dagupan Colleges has been celebrating its foundation anniversary each year, its Palaro ng Lahi (Intramurals). The annual Search for Mr. and Ms. MDC is always a crowd-getter.

Part of the plan for next school year is the shift of class schedules in the undergraduate level to trimester, synchronized with the trimester schedule of the graduate courses.

Senior and rover scouting adapted in NSTP program

One of the main features of education and training at the Metro-Dagupan Colleges (MDC) is the adoption by the Board of Trustees of the Senior and Rover Scouting Program as the core of the contents of training in its National Service Training Program (NSTP). The NSTP in the MDC is focused on training for Disaster Management.

Metro-Dagupan Colleges is the first higher education institution in Region I to utilize the Scouting program as its core contents during the two semesters of NSTP since the College’s establishment in 1996.

The Board of Trustees saw the direct benefit of the Senior and Rover Scouting program to the building of character, training for citizenship, and nationalism of both men and women who, under the law, are required to take up NSTP in lieu of the defunct ROTC. The College Administration chose Civic Welfare Service as its focal service training from among the three areas of choice allowed under the NSTP Law..

Dr. Roberto A. de los Reyes, chairman of the Board of Trustees, who is himself a Scout since he was 10 years old and a Scout Leader who took the Scout Wood Badge Course conducted by Gilwell Park, England, and has earned a British Warrant as Assistant Deputy Camp Chief (ADCC) for the Philippines, personally asked the National BSP Headquarters to allow Metro-Dagupan Colleges to experiment on new and creative ways of operating Senior and Rover Scouting in the institution within the ambit of the NSTP requirements.

The structional organization of the Rover Scout Circle is best fitted in the college level under NSTP where the NSTP students are exposed to high-quality instruction on the rudiments of disaster mitigation and management - not just the usual theoretical lectures and grass-pulling. At the collegiate level, lessons and practice sessions in basic scout skills for survival, including first aid, firemanship, survival swinning, rescue and life saving, evacuation, crowd control, and other skills needed to become an effective volunteer disaster management worker in the local government units are taken up and mastered. The students also go through the Rover Scouting advancement rank requirements - from the Membership Badge, through Voyager, Navigator, Advocate, to Eagle Scout, which is the highest rank in Scouting.

The beautiful thing about Rover Scouting is that the program fits squarely into the set-up ofNSTP, since that program allows women to join in the fun and adventure of Rovering. side by side with their male counterpart.

The Metro-Datgupan Colleges Roverettes and Rover Scouts, after their NSTP graduation, are affiliated with a national Non-Government Organization dedicated to advanced disaster training and volunteer assistance service to all local government units - the Barangay Assistance on Rescue, Relief Operation, and Communications Network. (BARROC N.W., for short). This tie-up is now being brought to the attention of the Regional Development Council of Region I as a coordinative tie-up between the schools, NGOs, and the LGUs.

At the Science High School of MDC, the physical education component of the curriculum from first year to fourth year is basically Senior Scouting - a program for boys 13 years old and above. The girls are also registered with the Girl Scouts of the Philippines and undertake girl scouting program. Dr. delos Reyes, who chaired a National BSP Committee on the revision of Senior Scouting and is the author of the Senior Scouting Handbook (13 Years and Beyond), has introduced new techniques in the implementation of the senior scouting program for the high school section to include backwoods engineering, improvised cooking without standard utensils, stalking and concealment, and other nature lore topics - all designed to acquaint boys (and girls) on survival in case of natural or man-made disasters.

The Scouting Program at MDC is being actively handled by a Team of trained scouters who are members of the faculty of the MDC.

The NSTP training at Metro-Dagupan Colleges in Mangaldan, Pangasinan, is indeed a positive breakthrough in practical training for adulthood. The development of the character of the students are deeply rooted in their strict observance of the Scout Oath and Law - the guideposts for character building and citizenship training.

Source: Manila Bulletin Online