Ms. Mercedelin D. Flores, lead auditor, interviews the top management of the University.

SOCOTEC Certification Philippines, Inc., an international audit agency and a leading player in testing, inspection, and certification (TIC), virtually visits the University of Northern Philippines for a Quality Management System (QMS) Surveillance Audit on 6–7 December 2022.

In the audit plan of the SOCOTEC, the sample academic unit of the surveillance audit is the College of Business Administration and Accountancy and the support services of the administration. Other colleges may still be taken as samples, hence the need for them to mainstream their processes and be ready for evaluation as well.

The surveillance audit is UNP’s first after having been declared as International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001:2015 certified as a whole university.The certification scope is the “provision of tertiary education services including instruction, research, extension, production, support to operations, and administration.”

Dr. Erwin F. Cadorna, University President, stressed that the surveillance visit is a continuation of UNP’s dream to be ISO-certified.

In addition, he emphasized that it is a way through which UNP “will be checked whether we were able to improve our ways of doing, particularly on the findings during the last visit, the opportunities for improvement, and the corrective actions to the minor non-conformities.”

He also pointed out that through a sustained ISO certification, UNP can improve employee performance and productivity, maintain quality processes, improve efficiency, cater to quality customer experience, and ensure stakeholders’ confidence in the University.

Mr. Albert Tejero, VP for Finance and Administration, welcomed the SOCOTEC auditors and stressed that an outsiders’ perspective is crucial in evaluating UNP’s performance.

Ms. Mercedelin D. Flores, lead auditor, briefed UNP’s administrators and process owners on the audit plan. Accordingly, the audit’s scope is the “overall implementation, including effectiveness, of the management system,” and the criteria include the ISO 9001:2015 and UNP’s management system processes and documentation.

Flores also added that the compliance and effectiveness of the QMS will be evaluated through interviews with process owners, verification of documents, and observation on core processes or operations.

Together with Flores were the support auditors, namely: Mr. Ringo Pabua, Ms. Marisse Cruz, and Mr. Leandro Bautista.

The institutionalization of quality management systems in government is implemented through Executive Order 605, s. 2007. SUCs are enjoined to establish ISO Quality Management Systems (ISO-QMS).

Process owners of the Office of Student Affairs and Services respond to auditors’ questions.