The technical panel of the Philippines’ Commission on Higher Education (CHED) granted permit and recognition for our Ph.D. in Holistic Child Development (HCD) on September 28, 2011. APNTS started the application in 2010. Dr. San Young Lee, Dr. Mitchel Modine, and Dr. Nativity A. Petallar visited CHED in Diliman, Quezon City and inquired from Dr. Leonida S. Calagui, CHED XI Director IV, about the possibility of applying for a Ph.D. program at APNTS. Dr. Calagui gave us the checklist of the requirements (CHED Form No. GPR. 4) on how to apply for a Ph.D. program. The Ph.D. in HCD was already approved by the APNTS Board of Trustees on its meeting dated April 2010. With that approval, the APNTS administration started working on the checklist. CHED had a long list of requirements.
The requirements were exhaustive. It included the Article of Incorporation and By-laws duly registered with the Securities and Stock Exchange Commission (SEC); copies of transfer certificates, title of the school site, campus development and landscaping plans; documents of ownership, certificate of occupancy of school building(s) and fire safety certificate from the proper city/municipality authorities; pictures of school building(s), classrooms, laboratories, libraries, medical and dental health facilities, canteen, sports and recreational areas; proposed budget for the succeeding school year approved by the Board of Trustees/Directors; list of school administrators; part-time, full-time ratio of faculty; and transcripts of all faculty involved at APNTS in 2010 and 2011 and all the professors teaching in our Ph.D. in HCD. The checklist also included the curriculum, facilities of APNTS, library holdings, and so many others.
But with all these, God has helped us gather, put together, and submit all documents to CHED in June 2010. Then CHED reviewed it and sent back to us another list of requirements. We tried to comply with everything they asked and submitted another set of documents in February 2011. CHED again reviewed these documents and finally set a date for verification. That date was September 28, 2011. The technical panel was composed of Dr. Joseph Shao, Bishop Efraim Tendero, and three representatives from CHED. They again reviewed those documents, visited our library and other facilities, and finally concluded that APNTS has satisfied all requirements for the application of the Ph.D. in HCD degree. They granted permit to operate as well as recognition of the program, effective school year 2011-2012.
The Ph.D. in HCD was originally a degree hosted by APNTS under the Asia Graduate School of Theology (AGST) consortium with the collaboration of Compassion International. Even with this new status with the Philippine government, APNTS will continue working with AGST in terms of faculty, admissions, scholarships, and resources, among others. The program started in November 2009 with five students. Now there are 12 students currently enrolled in the program. The program is designed to meet the need of the church and society for competent child advocates, practitioners, and educators.
