Br. Gus aims to launch ‘School for Governance,’ complete Ayuntamiento

After a decade of planning, DLSU-D Brother President Augustine Boquer FSC is targeting to launch his project “School for Governance, Public Service, and Corporate Leadership” along with the Ayuntamiento building completion next academic year (AY) 2018-2019.

The 10-year project

Br. Gus explained that the “School for Governance, Public Service, and Corporate Leadership” is a certificate program where leaders such as local government officials, some of whom were once his students, will serve as speakers in workshops and seminars offered by the said program.

“When I arrived here, I was planning it already. It (school for governance) was not easy,” Br. Gus said.

The project originally started in 2007 composed of sessions with local leaders, councilors, and even street sweepers with the Br. President. They formed small group discussions, following a program for all members in the society coming from various demographics.

He furthered that the certificate program in the upcoming school is a single course program with a “laddered” structure wherein enrolled students will be put into a team to discuss various topics along with the workshops and seminars included in the program. After completion of the course, a certificate will be granted which will serve as additional credit to your current degree.

“You have a team and different topics. And when you’re done with that, a certificate that’s going to your BA or MA, we can credit that (certificate) to your degree so it becomes a plus-plus for you,” Br. Gus said.

Initially, the certificate program was to be graduate program. However, Br. Gus saw the possibility of offering the said program to undergraduate students who wish to be trained as corporate leaders in the industry.

“I’m working it out to see how it can be done as an enrichment certificate before a student graduates, because ultimately when all of you are looking for jobs, when you’re being interviewed by your potential employer, they will look at you and ask, ‘Does this person have common sense?’ Those are skills that can be found in the heart of this particular facility program that we would like to do,” Br. Gus expressed.

Mentioning the need for this “unique Lasallian program,” Br. Gus highlighted how this could help make the students’ studies “relevant”. “If you, as a student, you would do very well academically, you know all the theories, but your feet are not grounded on the floor, and [then] that is what this program is all about, [for] your feet to be grounded,” he furthered.

As of press time, the program is in its “applying” stage, wherein Br. Gus and the University administrators involved will be conducting “time-testing” and other assessments. The said stage includes the materials needed for the program and as well as “looking at how would the program be” as described by Br. Gus.

The offices involved in the program are the Office of the Br. President, the Presidential Management Office, and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academics and Research.

Ayuntamiento completion

Clarifying the target date of his program’s launch and the Ayuntamiento completion, Br. Gus said, “We’re working it out very well. I don’t want to rush it and I think that’s something all of you (students) will be proud of.”

He confirmed that the Ayuntamiento building has already finished construction and only finalizing interior design elements is needed, such as tiles, dividers, ceilings, and electrical lines.

As to whether the Ayuntamiento building will serve as the new administration building, Br. Gus confirmed that “The [student] admissions [office] will be there, the registrar, finance, scholarship will be there, the major offices, board rooms, a gallery for exhibits, and then the School for Governance, Public Service, and [Corporate] Leadership,” he explained.

Moreover, Br. Gus said that the building will be fully operational by the next AY if they manage to acquire the last remaining necessary funds for the completion of the Ayuntamiento construction in time.

“The amount is not big, and it’s not small, and it is possible for me to find a very capable donor to do one donation for the whole period. And I’m meeting the person during the next two to three weeks,” he said at the time of the interview in mid-November.