We are literally on the cusp of the largest seismic change the Philippine educational system has ever faced.
Sustaining USC’s autonomous university status poses radical challenges to the Corporation and Board most particularly at the Graduate and Post-graduate levels: curricular overhaul, devastating market changes, provisory business strategies, downscaled offices, revamp of research agendas, personnel displacement, discerning succession options, headhunting for critical expertise, enhancing workforce competencies, updating policies and manuals, revised values agenda, and so on.
Deconstruction, Reconstruction, and Re-launching of the University of San Carlos. We are literally on the cusp of the largest seismic change the Philippine educational system has ever faced. To succeed we must be willing to purge the organization of dead-ends, to evolve a new evangelical humanism proper to our time, and to embark on new ventures hitherto unimagined. Once again the Lord invites USC “to launch into the deep” and entrust itself to the Spirit “who makes all things new.” In Biblical imagery the next triennium (2017–2020) symbolizes Exodus in Education, which we can further differentiate according to its levels: at the Basic Education Department, Metamorphosis (drawing lessons from the Dying Grain, Jn. 12:24); at Tertiary, Winnowing (extracting the Grain from the Chaff, Lk. 3:17b–18); and at Graduate, Regeneration (pouring New Wine into New Wineskins, Mk. 2:21–22).
Once again the Lord invites USC “to launch into the deep” and entrust itself to the Spirit “who makes all things new.”
Beyond the urgencies of the moment, each Christian USC stakeholder is encouraged to become an authentic Witness to the Word—whatever our academic role, we strive to realize the Word of Mercy preached by Pope Francis in both its personal and social dimensions here and today. In turn the institution as a whole is recalled to its fundamental reason for being as a Catholic university. Education with a Mission is an invitation to reread the traditional corporal and spiritual works of mercy in the light of the new poverties of today’s world (Scientia). Education with a Mission is a call to help build a nation in which professional integrity is central to prophetic dialogue with contemporary culture (Virtus). Education with a Mission is a summons to every USC alumnus and stakeholder to energize the creative genius of solidarity with every fellow human being in need (Devotio).
by Fr. Dionisio M. Miranda, SVD (President, University of San Carlos)
Tags: Education with a mission, USC President