The Northern Negros State College of Science and Technology (NONESCOST) administrative council headed by their president, Dr. Renante Egcas visited the Central Luzon State University (CLSU) for a benchmarking activity last April 27, 2022.
President Edgar A. Orden together with the four Vice Presidents and the faculty and staff from the College of Agriculture joined in the opening program at the Academic Affairs Amphitheater where the introduction of both instructions and orientation were made.
During the program, Dr. Egcas expressed his gratitude to CLSU for allowing them to visit the campus to learn the best practices in academics and research. He also shared that he considers CLSU a model institution as they intend to transition from a State College to a University.
“We want to benchmark and learn from your program in all aspects, starting from instruction, research, extension, production, and of course your niche. I always cite CLSU to my colleagues because you are known not just as a university but for your products like Tilapia Ice Cream. I hope we can also have the same for NONESCOST,” Dr. Egcas added.
As a response, President Orden shared his journey as a seasoned researcher in his field of expertise and provided concrete examples of how he succeeded in his projects and directs the undertaking of CLSU as the incumbent president.
“My advice to you is to identify your best commodity, concentrate on your strength, focus on that, and slowly, you can have your niche or what we consider here the CLSU brand,” President Orden said.
Moreover, during the open forum, queries were addressed by the CLSU officials with each providing insights and advice on overcoming the challenges in terms of funding, project sustainability, and human resources development, to name a few.
The last activity in the itinerary of the group was the visit to selected specialized R&D centers which include the Small Ruminant Center (SRC), Ramon Magsaysay-Center for Agricultural Resources and Environment Studies (RM-CARES), Precision and Digital Agriculture Center (PreDiC), and the College of Agriculture specifically the ItikPINAS project, where they were accommodated by the Center Heads and technology experts.
