TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Dr. Eduardo T. Bagtang assumed as the first president of the Kalinga State University (KSU) last October 6.
Bagtang got the unanimous votes of the 9-member Board of Regents (BOR), chaired by Patricia Lucuanan, Commissioner of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) during the selection done in Manila last Oct. 5.
The BOR acted as the selection panel in the search for the first KSU president after it was granted full university status by CHED last December 2015.
The other candidates were Zacarias Baluscang, former President of Apayao State College and Maria Magdalena Sabando former President of Negros Oriental State University.
It was a “come-back” for Bagtang, who served as College President of the then Kalinga Apayao State College (KASC) from 2006-2014.
During the simple turnover ceremony last Oct. 10, outgoing KSU Acting President Jovita Saguibo handed over the symbolic key of responsibility to Bagtang and some documents including the university’s 2017 approved budget amounting to P242.598M.
The amount is 32% higher than the institution’s 2016 budget of P184M.
Bagtang bared that his top priority is the opening of the KSU Pinukpuk campus in Pinukpuk Municipality.
He disclosed there is already a resolution from the Pinukpuk-LGU of a 50-hectare lot donation which he said is ideal for the university’s forest and environment program.
Included in his priority programs is strengthening of the university courses in Agriculture, Engineering, Hotel and Restaurant Management and Tourism.
Bagtang also cited the need to push the Student Mobility Program on student foreign study exchange, where KSU is a member of the University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UMAP).
He said he will also work for the modernization and advancement of processes in the university through on-line technology, where students can make online enrollment, payments and, through it, parents can have access to their children’s grades.
Also among his plans is the promotion of indigenous values and practices among students and its possible integration in the regular activities of the university. **By Larry T. Lopez