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New INNOTECH Programs Office Created

The SEAMEO INNOTECH Management Committee officially approved in January 2006 the creation of the new INNOTECH Programs Office, which merged the former Training and Research and Evaluation Program Units.

This strengthened the integration of the two related programs and streamlined the organizational management structure of the center. It is expected that the marriage of the two programs would also maximize the utilization of limited human, technical, and financial resources in support of INNOTECH’s 7th Five-Year Development Plan 2006-2011.

The Programs Office will institutionalize flexible learning approaches as a regular and commercially-viable service of the center. It shall also expand customized training programs, study tours, benchmarking visits, forums, seminars, and other face-to-face training activities to SEAMEO members and non-members.

Under the Programs Office’s roles is the development and implementation of long-term capacity-building programs for institutional capacity enhancement, technology transfer, and strengthening INNOTECH’s business position.

The research and development agenda would also be subsumed into the Program Office. It is tasked to increase investment in R&D, revitalize past R&D products, and increase utilization of R&D outputs as inputs to training activities. Hence, it is expected to expand the capacity and performance of the center to conduct quality research in response to client requests.

Along this line, five units or teams will have their respective mandates, namely:

• Flexible Learning Unit – responsible for the development and delivery of flexible/on-line learning programs such as EXCELS, COMPETE, and other modularized on-line short courses;
• Training Unit – responsible for the development and delivery of face-to-face training programs such as short course (customized and SEDF), study visits, forums, workshops, seminars, etc.;
• Special Capacity Building Program (CBP) Unit – responsible for development for the development and implementation of longer-term capacity building programs such as APEX (Laguna, Leyte, General Santos, Southeast Asia/International), and other longer-term CBP programs; and
• R&D Unit – responsible for the research and development of innovations to educational problems such as IMPACT, Madrasah materials development project, alternative delivery modes, new models of learner assessment, and other R&D projects.

The Programs Office will be supported by a team of technical and administrative support staff, as well as the pool of on-call experts who are tapped in different programs and projects, and the center’s program’s committee who will assist in research and training.

Within the larger context of the entire center, the Programs Office will receive support from the Directorate, the Program Service Units of BDO and ICT, and the Support Services of Admin and Finance as detailed in the center’s ISO-compliant Quality and Operations Manuals.

With the five units in place, coordination mechanisms were instituted. Research outputs from the Research Studies Unit will serve as inputs to the training programs of the Training Unit. Likewise, the Flexible Learning Unit will benefit from the R&D Unit’s self-instructional modules and learning materials. If applicable, flexible learning modules will be integrated into face-to-face training programs. The Research Studies unit is also integral in evaluating activities of the other units.

In the staffing plan, a Specialist or Associate Specialist will head each of the five program units. Overseeing the daily activities of the unit is the Unit Head or Team Leader, who will also develop and implement unit-specific action plans. As one unit, the technical and administrative support staff would have flexibility in sharing workload priorities.

Ms Berlin Chao heads the CBP Unit – APEX and Ms Debbie Lacuesta heads the R&D Unit. There is an immediate need for someone to head the Research Studies Unit. On the other hand, the Flexible Learning Unit’s head would be filled any time in 2006 once the unit is fully operational. The head of the Training Unit is likewise vacant, thus the Director of Programs will act as this unit’s head until such time that one is appointed by July or as late as December 2006. One Technical Support Person is proposed to be assigned to each unit.

Existing programs and projects of the Research Studies and R&D Unit were also reviewed for streamlining. Staff recruitments and staffing adjustments were also conducted. There was also a review of ISO Processes, procedures, and policies to accommodate the merging of the Training and Research Program Units into a single Programs Office. In the near term, the MANCOM needs to approve the organizational arrangements for the new Programs Office.

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