University Strategic Goals (2022-2027)

This 5-year Strategic Plan (AY 2022-2027) of the University of the Immaculate Conception sets the organization’s strategic direction for future higher education as it envisions becoming a SMART university. As CHED Regional Director Maricar R. Casquejo stressed in her keynote talk during the UIC’s Strategic Planning, a higher education institution must balance Macro and Micro Level functions; macro functions such as the institution that exists as an Instrument for poverty alleviation, building human capital, generating new knowledge, engendering innovation, and driving economic growth, and micro functions such as expanding and enhancing career and life choices and chances, producing persons with humanist values, academic, behavioral, technical skills, ethical orientation, and competency for lifelong learning and competitiveness. In crafting the next UIC five-year strategic plan, the findings on institutional performance 2016-2021, consultations with the stakeholders, environmental scanning, and SWOT Analysis are considered.


The RVM EMC strategic directions inspire UIC’s strategic planning along with CHED thrusts on access and equity, relevance and responsiveness, quality and competitiveness, and resiliency and capability; DEPED’s mission to protect and promote the right of every Filipino to quality, equitable, culture-based, and complete basic education, Pope Francis Global Compact on Education, A Catholic Global Compact with Family, United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals, Fourth Industrial Revolution program, and the Newmann Benchmarking framework for University Social Responsibility. Moreover, taking into account the challenges faced by both basic and higher education: the digital threat to traditional methods, evolving student expectations, demands for flexible learning, graduate prospects, online alternatives, and digital poverty, among others, the UIC community has to be vigilant and take action as it transitions to the new normal, embracing Fourth Industrial Revolution and continuously transforming as a digitally connected campus and as a SMART university, agile amid changes in the environment.


With this, UIC dedicates its effort toward an all-embracing focus on global impact through innovation and excellence. Foremost, to establish a resilient and capable Catholic university that provides Quality Transformative Ignacian Marian Education (Q-TIME) through competitive and innovative pedagogies, research, and academic programs. Likewise, a globally competitive, future-proofed, service-oriented, and agile graduate in a fast-changing society. Strategies to build responsible and productive partnerships and promotional opportunities are vital for collaboration for learning, discovering, and solving problems. Undertake synergistic leverage on innovative next-generation technologies for teaching, learning, communication, social interaction, transport, governance, wellness, data storage, energy management, and environment to create a digitally connected campus. Ultimately, all these efforts cultivate an environment that attracts, develops, and retains an outstanding and diverse community of students, faculty, and staff and provides them with rewarding, robust experiences and a sense of purpose.

ACADEMIC VISION
Global multi-forces are shaping UIC’s future. These geopolitical, economic, environmental, and technological forces have the power to transform the ecosystem where UIC exists. Despite its organization’s strengths, it faces unpredictable threats and challenging opportunities.

UIC supports the complementary Worldwide Economic policy of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the 17 United Nations sustainable development goals to meet increasing human development, environmental protection, and natural resource preservation demands. The prosperity of the Philippines and Mindanao, where UIC is located, must thrive on technological innovations to increase productivity in the global markets.

UIC considers and advocates the automation and artificial intelligence brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution ( FIRe) that will severely affect business models and labor-force demands. To add, UIC is fully aware of the advent of the gig and sharing economy work models that create more flexible working arrangements and fundamentally shift our understanding of the workforce. Thus, UIC is vigilant that its vital faculty and staff continuously re-skill and up-skill, and graduates must be adaptable and resilient to succeed in their future work and careers.

Moreover, UIC is inspired and considers the urgent request of the Holy Pope Francis to emphasize the Global Compact on Education, a pact to encourage global change so that education may become a creator of fraternity, peace, and justice Catholic Global Compact with family. The pandemic scarred an even more urgent need at this time.

Also, echoing a growing number of initiatives around the world to promote University Social Responsibility, the Newman Benchmarking Framework, a viable alternative to current rankings, is referred to in assessing for areas such as institutional governance, environmental protection efforts, practices as an employer and in the implementation of the “three missions” and overall consistency concerning institutional identity. These initiatives convey principles and values that align with the humanist and Catholic traditions of the Church; this tool places the notion of responsibility at the heart of university life and the entire community.

Four strategic promoters bolster UIC’s vision for the future. These promoters are critical to achieving its ambitions. Our students, academic and professional services, culture, infrastructure, and finance drive UIC’s success and impact.

As UIC propels toward its vision and mission, our people affirm the demands for change agile to lead the way for transformation. Our identified strategies for human resource development and management eventually will allow the recruitment and retention of the talented and re-imagined workforce for the future. UIC will prioritize innovation, entrepreneurship, resilience, and the initiative to develop relevant partnerships. As an agile and responsive community, UIC will provide efficient and timely support in retooling leadership and skills development, technology utilization, communication channeling, and actively participating in industry networks and global mobility opportunities.

UIC culture portrays excellence, collaboration, agility, and responsiveness to the market. Supported by flexible systems and processes, UIC focuses on creating positive change. UIC will remain grounded in its institutional values of Faith, Excellence, and Service. We will continue championing inclusion, diversity, and gender equity to create a welcoming environment for everyone. UIC will continuously uphold robust integrity, accountability, and transparency principles in all its governance structures and processes.

UIC targets globally networked learning and research experience inspired by the Fourth Industrial Revolution-based physical and digital infrastructure. Through this physical and virtual presence, UIC envisions demonstrating contemporary practices in safety and accessibility. UIC is committed to realizing the vision of its physical plant plan, which will eventually provide innovative, environmentally sustainable, and purposeful facilities that enhance workplace productivity and the SMART university experience. We will embrace user-centered design, automation, and artificial intelligence so our people can focus on meaningful and rewarding work. We will be at the forefront of advanced technologies, embedding them into our research and learning.

The UIC focuses on resource management and venturing into possible sources of revenue that will support its ongoing financial sustainability amid changes in the education ecosystem. Likewise, UIC discovers Innovative processes in student recruitment practices vis-a-vis market demands to optimize enrolment and retention outcomes. Moreover, UIC advocates effective planning, implementation, and monitoring practices, ensuring transparency and appropriate budget support of resources to promising and demanded programs that will answer job market needs. UIC plans to forge linkages with local, national, and global funding partnerships and facilitate production through commercialization.

As UIC has health and health-related program offerings, it must be aware that curricular and non curricular courses must relate to a more holistic and person-centered Healthcare. The curriculum must be informed that it is ideal for medical professionals to work in interdisciplinary teams. That is designed to be integrated, holistic, and technology-based, patient-centered care for a circular economy to make smarter, more sustainable cities amid challenges caused by rapid urbanization, food security, and climate change.

Foremost, UIC prioritizes three strategies – digitalization, growth, and collaboration. UIC’s digitalization priority will pursue projects and redesign processes to enhance its digital capacity and teaching, learning, and research practices realized through initiatives such as acquiring the knowledge and skills on artificial intelligence to improve digital ability, embracing automation and machine learning as ways to support our, students and staff and deliver integrated personalized service, developing capabilities in data science, utilizing data analytics and decision analysis with a focus on translation and impact, expanding online and micro-credential course offerings, and offering students a flexible and engaging learning experience.

UIC’s growth priority will focus on the opportunities to make its offerings and research unique and competitive to ensure long-term financial sustainability. This priority will be realized through initiatives such as reviewing and rebuilding academic course offerings to ensure it is responsive and aligned to future students’ and workforce needs and forging opportunities for access to high-quality university courses and research.

UIC prioritization towards collaboration forges strategic engagement with industry partners, peers, and communities to respond to problems impacting individuals and the world. This priority will be realized through initiatives such as bolstering professional development, offering lifelong access to a range of professional development opportunities to our alumni, leveraging UIC’s expertise in medical research, research application, and education, and focusing on high-impact science to address significant local and global health challenges, and harnessing growing relationships with leading international institutions.

UIC has started advocating lifelong learning as diverse learners will continuously embark on their educational investment and demand flexibility, personalization, and applied knowledge. Borderless, global Higher education as internationalization of tertiary education ensues. Agile organizations may shift from established practices and traditional universities and differentiate, collaborate, and innovate globally. However, UIC must bear in mind that amid all these challenges and threats comes opportunity and that UIC is committed to a network of regional, metropolitan, and international campuses that will provide the grounding and global outlook required to address issues of importance across all of our communities.

As a Catholic Basic Education provider, it is envisioned to journey with its students and stakeholders to encounter Jesus Christ and live His love and truth. The higher education department continuously promotes excellence in Arts and Humanities, Computer Education, Teacher Education, Business Education, Engineering and Architecture, Pharmacy and Chemistry, Medical Laboratory and Biological Sciences, Nursing, Nutrition and Dietetics, and Music. It continues to exist and function as a Center of Development in Teacher, Information Technology, and Business Education. It eventually elevates as a Center of Excellence to contribute to global prosperity.

As a resilient and capable Catholic university providing Quality Transformative Ignacian Marian Education (Q-TIME), UIC continuously envisions producing globally competitive, future-proofed, service-oriented, and agile graduates through competitive and innovative programs and authentic learning experiences amid a fast-changing society.

VISION
A globally recognized Catholic university that nurtures faith, builds passion for excellence and develops lifelong learners with compassion for service that impacts transformation in a fast-changing society.

MISSION
We commit ourselves to:

  1. provide an excellent educational experience to students to help them become globally
    competitive and adaptive to change;
  2. inculcate among students the values of serving others with humility and love, working for
    justice, promoting peace, and preserving the integrity of creation;
  3. engage in research activities in collaboration with local, regional, national, and
    international partners;
  4. uphold the dignity of the persons especially the poor;
  5. promote and strengthen our Filipino culture and values; and
  6. administer the university following Catholic doctrine.

GOAL
The University of the Immaculate Conception is a Catholic School that is an instrumentality of the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary that aims to provide within its community of students and personnel Catholic values. Its goal is to provide an educational program and environment animated by Catholic doctrine, beliefs, teachings, traditions, and practices, the exercise of which is protected by, among others, Article III, Section 5 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

In order for us to approximate our vision and live our mission, we dedicate all our human resources to transform the members of the UIC family to become enlightened, empowered, proactive, and liberated Christian leaders living in a humane and harmonious community for love of God, country, and the world.

QUALITY POLICY
We at the University of the Immaculate Conception commit to provide quality Catholic Ignacian Marian education to mold students to be Ignacian Marian leaders of faith, excellence, and service wherever they are at all times. We commit to collaboratively comply and maintain an effective quality management system by periodically reviewing and validating the processes and services in line with the quality objectives and standards for continual improvement.


QUALITY OBJECTIVES

  1. Intensify transformative quality Catholic Ignacian Marian education towards service for
    the common good.
  2. Enrich the RVM curriculum thrusts to promote justice, peace, and integrity of creation.
  1. Establish responsible and extensive partnerships to improve and sustain the quality of life.
  2. Cultivate integration of students, individuals, and organizations with diverse backgrounds
    to promote intercultural understanding.
  3. Create opportunities to access the world’s resources and share the university’s best ideas,
    services, and talents.
  4. Provide greater accessibility of education to the poor.

UNIVERSITY STRATEGIC GOALS
GOAL 1 Be globally recognized as an institution that develops health and spiritual well-being to advocate fraternity, peace, and justice.

GOAL 2 Produce globally competitive, future-proofed, and service-oriented graduates.
GOAL 3 Leverage to highest international quality of research and creative works publication and technological innovation toward utilization

GOAL 4 Nurture a global image and identity that attracts, develops, and retains an
outstanding and diverse community of students, faculty, and staff who are
empowered to serve

GOAL 5 Uphold integrity, accountability, and transparency principles in all governance
structures and processes.
GOAL 6 Elevate global university rank.

GOAL 7 Enhance overall financial strength to deliver strategic goals and attain the university’s competitive position.