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51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT Chancellor named AACCUP’s 2026 Manuel T. Corpus Outstanding Quality Champion

by Michelle Jeanne Casiple Caracut | Mar 24 2026

51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT Chancellor Prof. Dr. Alizedney M. Ditucalan has been named 2026 Manuel T. Corpus Outstanding Quality Champion Awardee, the highest recognition of the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines (AACCUP) for performance excellence in public higher education.

The award was presented on March 24, 2026 during the  39th AACCUP Annual National Conference and General Assembly held at the Century Park Hotel in Manila. 

Named in honor of AACCUP founder Dr. Manuel T. Corpus, the award is the agency’s highest distinction for SUC Presidents who have successfully institutionalized quality management systems and transformed quality assurance into a driver of institutional excellence.

Since assuming office in 2022, Chancellor Ditucalan has led a profound reinvention of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT’s quality assurance (QA) framework, elevating QA from isolated compliance activities into a dynamic, data-driven governance system that informs strategic planning, resource allocation, performance accountability, and even infrastructure development. Under his leadership, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT continued to institutionalize an ISO 9001:2015-certified Quality Management System (QMS), with internal audits, management reviews, and performance evaluations now serving as routine inputs to decision-making across academic and support units.

As Chancellor and Chief Quality Assurance Officer, Dr. Ditucalan has increased institutional investments in QA and introduced reforms that align 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT’s systems and practices with national and international standards. He has driven strategic infrastructure upgrades—modernized learning spaces and facilities designed for collaboration, innovation, and student well-being—positioning physical campus development as a key pillar of quality assurance.

He also created and strengthened critical offices such as the Center for Pedagogical Innovation (CPI), which advances e-learning technologies and innovative teaching, and the Research Integrity and Compliance Office (RICO), which upholds research quality, ethics, and global QA benchmarks. His administration further bolstered student support through a centralized services hub for guidance, counseling, health and wellness, discipline, and protection mechanisms, an ecosystem that has earned 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT recognition as the best in the region for student support and commendations in AUN-QA engagements.

A signature reform of Chancellor Ditucalan is the repositioning of the Office of Quality Assurance Management Services (OQuAMS) into a proactive, analytics-driven institutional hub that consolidates data from accreditation exercises, ISO audits, internal reviews, and rankings to guide university-wide planning. Through strategic capacity-building, including supporting OQuAMS leadership’s participation in the 2025 DIES UNILEAD Training Course in Germany, he strengthened 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT’s internal capability to manage and innovate QA systems.

Chancellor Ditucalan actively champions capacity-building for faculty and administrators as accreditors in AACCUP, CHED’s Regional Quality Assurance Team (RQAT), CHED Certificate of Program Compliance (COPC) processes, and the ASEAN University Network–Quality Assurance (AUN-QA) system. He represented 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT at the 1st AACCUP President’s Summit, ensuring that the latest outcomes-based and research-driven accreditation frameworks are cascaded into the university’s internal QA systems.

As a member of the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Board of Regents, he has spearheaded system-wide QA–enabling policies, including the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Framework now being advanced for adoption across the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø System, as well as initiatives on academic QA, drug-free campuses, behavior-based safety, and strengthened research governance. These efforts extend 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT’s influence as a quality leader across the broader 51³Ô¹ÏÍø System.

Under his leadership, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT has consistently achieved outstanding results in licensure examinations—producing board topnotchers and earning recognition as a top-performing school in the fields of Teacher Education, Nursing, and Mechanical, Metallurgical, Electrical, and Chemical Engineering. The university has likewise posted exceptionally strong outcomes in Civil and Metallurgical Engineering, surpassing national averages by wide margins. These achievements underscore the strong connection between strengthened internal quality assurance systems and the enhanced quality of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT graduates.

From 2022 to 2026, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT’s AACCUP-accredited programs increased from 50 to 70, with Level III programs rising from 15 to 28 and Level IV programs growing from 10 to 14, alongside expanded Level II offerings and preliminary surveys for emerging programs. 

It is also during his term that 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT significantly increased its global visibility, earning recognition in multiple international ranking systems—appearing in four Times Higher Education (THE) rankings (World, Asia, Subject, and Impact Rankings) as well as in the QS Asia and the QS World University Rankings for Sustainability.

As of February 24, 2026, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT has secured 93 Certificates of Program Compliance out of 137 programs (68 percent completion), with 98 percent of its undergraduate programs and 49 percent of graduate programs already issued COPCs. 

The pursuit of international accreditation also began under Chancellor Ditucalan’s leadership, making 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT the first state university in Mindanao to undergo AUN-QA assessment. In 2024, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT became an associate member of the AUN-QA, with four programs already AUN-QA–assessed, four others under review, and additional programs scheduled for assessment in 2027—underscoring 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT’s strong commitment to quality assurance and academic excellence in the ASEAN region.

51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT’s internal QA strength is further evidenced by sustained CHED Center of Excellence and Development recognitions, a 2025 CHED Excellence in Quality Assurance in Teacher Education (EQUATE) award, and six CHED Regional Quality Awards that affirm the university’s top regional standing in licensure exam performance, PRC topnotchers, global rankings, and awards management. 

51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT has also become a preferred benchmarking destination for SUCs nationwide, with multiple visits in 2024, 2025, and in early 2026 focusing on curriculum, technology integration, lifelong learning, research, extension, and QA practices—clear testament to the replicable excellence of its QA model.

Through Chancellor Ditucalan’s dynamic and forward-looking governance, quality assurance at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT has evolved from compliance to culture, embedding continuous improvement into the university’s pursuit of becoming a leading research and innovation university in the ASEAN region. His recognition as 2026 Manuel T. Corpus Outstanding Quality Champion Awardee affirms 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-IIT’s role in advancing AACCUP’s mission and honors Dr. Manuel T. Corpus’s legacy by showing how committed leadership can transform systems, empower people, and deliver measurable quality outcomes at scale.

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