The Davao Oriental State College of Science and Technology’s impending conversion into a State University will boost the province’s bid to become a premiere tourism destination in Mindanao.
Dr. Edito B. Sumile, DOSCST President said that the college envisions integrating the college as part of the province’s tourism development.
“That is why in our own little way we also preparing ourselves to complement the province’s development,” says Dr. Sumile in a media forum on Thursday, April 6 at the Provincial Capitol.
“As an academic institution we should always bring the brand name of the province,” he added, noting the State College’s noticeable changes as far as infrastructure and facility modernization is concerned, which has been drawing a lot of enrollees. From onlyabout 4,000 students in 2011, the college’s population ballooned to 9,800 in 2017, prompting the college to make way for groundbreaking improvements that will complement its bid to become a State University.
This influx of freshmen students is attributed to the affordable tuition fee and various curricular programs offered. He revealed that they are planning to offer doctorate degree on Education and Philosophy. This year, 3,782 students are set to receive their diploma. He said that this number of graduates of degree and non-degree programs is notably high and marks another milestone of his presidency in the college.
Aside from drawing enrollees and producing more graduates, the college’s progress has also been enticing funding institutions’ support for the college’s further development.
Dr. Sumile said that these developments were made possible through the Normative Financing Scheme of the Commission on Higher Education where the college avails higher budget in relation to the huge numbers of accomplishments under its flagship program. This year, the college is working on a P 300 million budget which includes its internally generated income.
Currently, the college has been fast tracking the construction of a three-story administration building and a three-story library building. A three-story dormitory for its graduate program students is also being eyed to be put up within the college. In terms of facilities, the college flaunts its electronic library, among many others, where students can readily access information through the Internet.
While ‘physical appearances do matter’, Dr. Sumile said that the college is also making holistic improvements for the college, including capacity building for its instructors and professors as it aims to be at par with other colleges and universities in the country and even other neighboring Asian countries. Sumile said that there are more than a hundred teaching staff who were sent for a doctorate and master’s degree scholarship under the K+12 transition fund.
Dr. Sumile underscored the “huge help of the Provincial Government who has been a vital partner in achieving all these accomplishments” in pursuant to the college’s aim to contribute to the development in the lives of the people in Davao Oriental and beyond.
“It is always our aspiration to level up, to convert the college into something that is worth for the generation to cherish, to be of help to the tourism sector which is one of the sources of the province’s revenue,” he said.
The House Bill 4218 which bears the proposed conversion of the State College into Davao Oriental State University is currently deliberated at the House of Representatives. Sumilesaid he is positive that the bill will be passed into a law within this year as DOSCT’s academic programs are accredited into Level III. He added that the college is now on its way to level IV accreditation since it has gained the approval of the CHED on October at the Regional level and will soon get the approval at the National Level. (Riza M. Golez/PIO DavOr)
