By: Dr. Rodrigo F. Ponce Jr.
Two administrators of San Sebastian College – Recoletos (SSC-R), Manila visited four (4) Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Office in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Sarawak, Malaysia last September 23-28, 2019 to benchmark and establish partnership with schools implementing ACCA qualifications and in the offering of the Accountancy degree program. This activity is also one of the listed benchmarking activities needed for the Borderless (time-free) BS Accountancy Program, an approved project by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) under the Institutional Development Innovation Grant (IDIG) and upon the recommendation and endorsement of The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) officials.
SSC-R Manila was represented by the Director of the Quality Assurance Office (QAO) and the Chair of the Committee of Linkages of the CHED-IDIG funded project, Dr. Rodrigo F. Ponce, Jr. and the Program Head of the BS in Accountancy program and Chair of the Committee on Curriculum & Instruction of the CHED-IDIG funded project, Mr. Ignacio Katapang II.
The team first visited INTEC Educational College at Selangor, Malaysia last September 24, 2019. The meeting that was attended by the INTEC Educational College representatives discussed the need for clinical counseling, nurturing life skills through coaching, remedial and enrichment classes, the importance of having a strong and committed faculty line-up, maintaining one standard on learning materials, practice problem and assessment tools, the need for selective retention of students, and the all-year-round enrollment with part-time students scheduled every Saturday and Sunday. After the meeting, the team had a tour visit with the IPAC Education Office, classrooms and with the different learning resources of the school.
On September 25, 2019, the 2nd school visited by the team was the Sunway University at Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia. The University is owned and governed by Jeffrey Cheah Foundation and a member of the Sunway Education Group. During the meeting with Teo Ee Sing, Executive Director of the Sunway TES Center for Accounting Excellence, Lum Pey Wah, Head of Programs – CAT & ACCA, Wang Sooi Fong, Head – eLearning and some ongoing students of ACCA, the University’s best practices in the implementation of the ACCA and eLearning Management System (eLMS) were highlighted. SSC-R Manila and Sunway University initially agreed to have a formal collaboration and partnership specifically in the curriculum improvement, the use of the eLMS for faculty and students and maintaining standards for learning materials.
Dr. Ponce; Teo Ee Sing, Executive Director of the Sunway TES Center for Accounting Excellence; Mr. Katapang
The 3rd school visited on September 25, 2019 was the Swinburne University of Technology at Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. The team had to travel by plane from Kuala Lumpur to reach the campus in Sarawak for a meeting with the University’s representatives namely, Prof. Lau Hieng Ho, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academics), Prof. Lee Miin Huui, Dean – Faculty of Business, Design & Arts, Dr. Fung Chong Yuan, Discipline Leader – Faculty of Business, Design & Arts and James Ho, Director – Business Development & Liaison. The program started with a formal introduction of both schools and followed by the sharing of best practices in the implementations of the ACCA program and the undergraduate and graduate programs for Accountancy and Business Administration. One of the best practices is the identification of a strong and qualified faculty line-up as vital to the success of their ACCA academic program. A campus tour was conducted in the University Library, classrooms and offices.
The Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC) at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was the 4th school the team visited last September 26, 2019. Associate Prof. Say Sok Kwan, VP – Admin and Internationalization, Associate Prof. Wong Hwa Kiong, Dean – Faculty of Accountancy, Finance and Business and Koh Kim Siang, Deputy Dean – Faculty of Accountancy, Finance and Business were present during the meeting. The discussion and sharing of best practices focused on the importance of having a strong and qualified faculty line-up such as inviting ACCA professionals as lecturer; maintaining one standard on learning materials; the advantages of students to participating in competitions; the need for strong industry partners, and the importance of a strong alumni support. TAR UC has been providing ACCA Professional Education for 48 years since 1971, conducting the Internally Assessed ACCA programme since 1987 and the only institution in the world that is approved by ACCA to conduct an Internally-Assessed ACCA Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills level programme.
On September 27, 2019, the team was also able to visit and solicit assistance from ACCA Malaysia which was located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The meeting was conducted with Hishamuddin Jalil, ACCA Malaysia Head of Partner Relations and Brien Chia, ACCA Malaysia Senior Education Manager. The discussion focused on how ACCA Malaysia could assist the SSCR Manila in identifying ACCA professionals who would be available as possible lecturer for the BSA Borderless Program. The group also solicited assistance in identifying and locating possible Filipino ACCA professionals based in Malaysia.
The team was also able to meet with Mr. Camilo Liberato, a Senior Customer Ops Service Delivery Manager of Expedia Group/Lodging Partner Travel and Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency & Accreditation Program (ETEEAP) BS in Business Administration alumnus of Batch 2019. The meeting was intended for the ETEEAP marketing and promotion to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) who are non-College Degree holders but already working in the Expedia Group of Companies and other industries in Malaysia.
Through this kind of benchmarking efforts, SSC-R Manila was able to explore and assess international academic institutions’ academic structures and functions to improve and strengthen its own existing BS Accountancy degree program’s structure and services.
