Background
The General Education Center (GEC) Diliman is an administrative unit of the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs (OVCAA). The plan for the creation of the GEC Diliman was hatched in a UPD GE Conference held in October 2013. At its November and December 2014 meetings, the University Council Executive Committee discussed and approved the general proposal for its creation.
Through Executive Order No. PAEP 16-02 dated 26 April 2016 on the Reorganization of the UP Diliman OVCAA as approved by the Board of Regents during its 1316th meeting on 31 March 2016, the GEC Diliman was officially established. The Office started its full operations in October 2016. It operates on the banner goal of “convergence” in the OVCAA reorganization.
Vision
The General Education Center (GEC) champions the goals of the UP General Education Program of providing a liberal, holistic, critical, humanist, creative and transformative education, with a commitment to excellence, sustainability and pro-people innovations for the improvement of our society.
Mission / Goals
The GEC supports the core academic mission of UP Diliman through its three-fold task of coordination, research, and incubation. It implements the GE Program; assists the UPD GE Committee in the making and assessment of policies, guidelines, and standards related to the GE curriculum, pedagogy, and resources; facilitates GE concerns on admission, progress, and graduation of students; and, extends public service to the academic community in the tradition of honor and excellence.
For Coordination, the GEC will:
- Provide students and faculty the best possible access to information, learning spaces, and resources in support of research, learning and teaching;
- Support the interdisciplinary nature of GE courses by coordinating with and among the faculty members from various academic units who can teach each course;
- Implement faculty development programs such as workshops and trainings to enhance multi-modal teaching of GE courses in coordination with the OAT, ILC and University Library Diliman;
- Evaluate and process students’ requests, petitions, appeals related to the crediting of GE subjects;
- Facilitate the request for adoption of UPD GE Courses by other CUs;
- Evaluate and process Unit’s request for clarification on GE policies;
- Coordinate with Student Records Evaluators and/ or College Secretaries regarding clarification on the GE policies, requirements, and processes;
- Represent the UPD in engagements called by the System GE Council, TWGs for the UP GE Program, UC Curriculum Committee, and University Council, and serve as secretariat to the UP Diliman GE Committee.
For Research, the GEC will:
- Initiate periodic assessment and evaluation of the GE Program in keeping with the thrust of the System GE Council, UP Diliman and OVCAA;
- Support the GE-related research projects like creation of general reference for crediting of GE courses across CUs;
- Serve as a repository of all GE instructional materials and resources like course guidelines, syllabi, course packs, learning modules, assessment reports of GE courses by colleges and units;
- Collect and analyze GE-related data requested by other units like OUR, OVCAA Units, OVPAA and CHED;
- Conduct quality assurance activity for the GE Program and Center, e.g. Registry of GE faculty.
For Incubation, the GEC will:
- Provide support to colleges or units in the development of concepts, course proposals, pedagogies, materials, and all resources pertaining to GE courses;
- Facilitate the process of reconfiguration, revision, institutionalization, and reclassification of GE courses.
Mandate
Section 5 of the Executive Order No. PAEP 16-02 states that the GEC Diliman shall have the following main functions:
 | Coordination | (1) Support the interdisciplinary nature of GE courses by coordinating with, and among the faculty members from various academic units who can teach each course; (2) Compile and disseminate GE instructional materials, in coordination with the Interactive Learning Center (ILC) Diliman and University Library (UL) Diliman; (3) Plan and conduct workshops and training programs to enhance GE teaching, in coordination with the Office for the Advancement of Teaching (OAT Diliman) |
 | Research | (1) Consolidate the review and evaluation of the GE program and the GE courses; (2) Support GE-related research projects |
 | Incubation | Provide support to colleges or units in the development of concepts, pedagogies, materials, and all resources pertaining to GE courses |
Values and Principles
The GEC commits to the following core values and principles:
- Excellence
- Professionalism and commitment to service
- Humanism and nationalism
- Equity and inclusivity
- Nurturance
Organizational Structure
The BOR-approved organizational structure of the GEC Diliman is composed of a Director appointed by the Chancellor with full-time staff to carry out its day-to-day functions. It will take care of operations as delegated by the UP Diliman GE Committee, which functions as a policy-making, program-setting and advisory body to GEC Diliman.
