The Universidad de Manila (UdM) Board of Regents elected on Friday (Aug. 27) Dr. Ma. Felma Carlos-Tria as the new university president.
Carlos-Tria, Ed.D., MA, hopes to transform the university into a "training ground for Manileños to become globally competitive individuals."
The newly elected university president was a former Accreditor of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (PACUCOA), former Assessor of the Philippine Quality Award, President of the Asian Federation of Student Leaders, and had worked as a reporter and segment producer for GMA News in 1999-2000 and RPN 9 News in 1998-1999.
"My aim and goal for UdM is to be not UdM just for Manileños but for the Manileños to move out. So it's going be topnotch Manileños for the country and for the world," Carlos-Tria said.
"We will make sure to provide quality education so that our students will be globally competitive. It's not just a training on competency in terms of the curriculum but including the soft skills," she added.
The students will be her "first priority" as they are the "heart of the university," according to Carlos-Tria.
The university's faculty will be given support in terms of training in order to deliver "quality instructions to the students" amid the blended distance learning setup.
"I am an educator, so what I really have at heart would be what the learners need and because I'm saying it's what the learners need, we have to look at the curriculum and make sure that they are aligned and competitive and relevant," she said.
"Together, we are going to make sure that UDM will make waves," she added.
She thanked Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso and the City Council for their support to her election.
"The support is really overflowing. It's something that we can really feel, be it in terms of the budget and all other aspects in terms of passing of ordinances to make sure that we are recognized by the Commission of Higher Education," Carlos-Tria further said.