MANILA, July 8 (PNA) — The House Committee on Higher and Technical Education has approved a measure aimed at strengthening the Mindanao State University (MSU) to make it more relevant and responsive to the needs of the times, especially in the age of globalization and rapid technological development.
Rep. Roman T. Romulo (Lone District, Pasig City) said under House Bill 4779, the MSU will be designated as a national peace university, which will initiate, maintain and promote programs and policies on peace education, conflict resolution, multiculturalism, pluralism and diversity.
“MSU has expanded through the years to become a university system that now comprises several campuses located in major centers in Mindanao and has evolved into one of the leading universities in the Philippines,” Romulo, the bill’s author, said.
Romulo said the MSU system’s vision of becoming the premier supra-regional university committed to the social, political and economic development of Mindanao will be hampered if it will continue to rely on a charter that is already more than 60 years old and tantamount to being obsolete.
“MSU system’s goals of setting the standards of excellence in science, arts, technology, and other fields, accelerating the economic, cultural, socio-political, and agro-industrial development of the Muslim and other cultural groups, and preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of the region can be attained only by strengthening its charter,” Romulo said.
Romulo said MSU would set the standards and initiate innovations in teaching, research and faculty development in philosophy, the arts and humanities, the social sciences, the professions and engineering, natural sciences, mathematics, and technology, and maintain centers of excellence in such disciplines and professions.vThe Mindanao State University system is composed of the MSU Marawi, MSU Iligan, MSU General Santos, MSU Tawi-Tawi, MSU Sulu, MSU Maguindanao, MSU Misamis Oriental and MSU Zamboanga Sibugay.
Under the bill, the seat of the system administration of MSU shall be in MSU Marawi City, with a common seal which shall be the figure of a Maranao awing (boat) in full sail as the head of the seal, with Maguindanao lamp with three rays emanating from its flame resting atop the boat with the number 1961 written on it and the university color shall be sofra or magenta and gold.
Aside from the right and responsibility to exercise academic freedom, the MSU shall maintain and enhance its high academic standards in the performance of its functions of instruction, research and extension service.
The MSU is committed to fulfill its obligation to pursue universal principles, shall relate its activities to the needs of the Filipino people in general, the Muslims and other cultural communities and disadvantaged and marginalized people, in particular, and their aspirations for social progress and transformation, peace and national unity.
The University shall exclusively determine its teaching, research and extension thrusts, plans, policies, programs and standards and on the basis of such determination, the University shall recommend its annual budget to the President of the Republic of the Philippines and Congress. (PNA)
I am from Mindanao, particularly in the Province of Lanao del Sur & Marawi City, where the location of Mindanao State University is situated. The MSU is considered one of the prestigious university in the country, where several Mindanaoans & even foreigners have been a successful products of the university system, which the people of ARMM shall have to be thankful with the late Senator Domocao Alonto of sponsoring the creation of the MSU, which was among the legacy that has been left by him. What is surprising is that, no less than a Congressman from Pasig City who sponsored the strengthening of the MSU System, which I am suggesting to the Honorable Congressman Roman T. Romulo of the Lone District of Pasig City, if he could include in his Bill the putting up of Branch in Metro Manila, especially, if graduate studies could be offered, so that, Muslim residents in Luzon & NCR, who are college graduates, may have the chance to pursue their studies in different fields of Masteral & Doctorate degrees, or it could even offered different courses depending on the necessity of providing it, once it could be properly studies & evaluated to be viable & probable. Mindanaoans are very proud of having the MSU do exist until now.