Executive Order No. 330 Redeems Your Education
VOL. XVIII NO. 4 (Nov 1-7, 2014)
“Sometimes we need to look back to know where we are heading.”
From a rephrased CNN’s Station Identification
We may have mastered the skills that we have longed dream allowing us to say that we have fully grasped our crafts in the field despite the absence of formal papers to justify;everyone is entitled to his own right but in the world’s educational system, the need to formally document what we know interplays an essential role for a legitimate educational recognition to be credibly functional in an organization. In the academe, many Filipinoindividuals’ studies have been interrupted due to several obligatory circumstancesbut these failures don’t end forever hanging where it ceased because formalization of incurred educational knowledge in the Philippines awaits theseindividuals who are still active or linked in the specializations they failed to formallyacquire. This opportunity is for the undergraduates of varied fields like chef, tourist guides,designers,surveyors,police officers,office workers,legalassistant,Journalist, community outreach program coordinator, health care worker, a contractor,businessman,bank teller,insurance representative, tutor,sales officer,computer programmer, technician among others as well as graduates who plan to pursue withdrawn masters and doctorate studies in the past can avail of these opportunities through the executive order enacted by Former Fidel V. Ramos in May 10, 1996.
Executive order No.330 stipulatesthe adoptionof theExpanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program (ETEEAP) as an integral part of the educational system and designation of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as the authoritative body responsible for its Implementation. Section 2 of thisexecutive order empowers the role of the CHED to deputize and /or accredit agencies, organizations and higher education institution which will conduct equivalency assessment and accreditation program by linking and cooperating with appropriate development and regulatory agencies and institutes.
It is evident that section 2 of Article XIV in the 1987 constitutionsupports the creation of the ETEEAP which states that “the constitution shall establish,maintain,support a complete,adequate and integrated system of education relevant to the needs of the people and society, and that the state shall encourage non-formal, informal and indigenous learning systems, as well as self-learning,independent,and out-of-school study programs particularly those that respond to community needs.”
The ETEEAP is an educational assessment system which distinguishes knowledge,skills and prior learning acquired by individuals from non-formal,informal education experiences through higher education institutions deputized by CHED. These HEI’s(Higher Education Institution) or deputized colleges and universities create their equivalencycompetence standards and comprehensive assessment systems using competency-based evaluation. Each deputized educational institution creates its own panels to asses candidate’s documented achievements related to his field of specialization or concentration.
The ETEEAP works by submitting legal documents obtained from employers,organizations,schools together with other related documents related tothe area of concentration to any CHED deputized HEI that he opted. In the case of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) applicants they can proceed to the CHED deputized HEI. These include Baguio Central University(BCU), University of the Cordillera (UC) and University of Baguio (UB). Once the documents are submitted, the deputized HEI will evaluate the documents.
The Documents to be submitted may include: school forms, certificate of employment,certificates of workshops attended and/or presented,published works,innovations in the area of specialization,certificates of appended duties in the establishment that he worked with,certificate of recognition among others.If the applicantqualifies, the HEI recommends the candidate to the ETEEAP board.The applicant is requested to undergo assessment employed which are written and oral examination to test knowledge and support submitted documents for validation,respectively. At this point, the HEI panels are formed to further inquire about the candidate’s achievement. Thecandidate is tasked to demonstrate his skills for the panel to determine the extent and level of the candidates’ competencies which shall in turn qualify for equivalent credits to continue remaining credits for enhancement at his pace to finish or qualify for a specific certificate or degreeto be awarded by the concern institution.
In connection with this accreditation system, Pangasinan State University‘s Open University has arrived in an assessment system for accreditation similar to the requirements needed in the ETEEAP to primarily reduce the duration for masters and doctorates studies.