AN OFFICIAL from the Mandaue City Government announced that the Mandaue City College (MCC) is planning to resubmit its application for the Certification of Program Compliance (COPC) on Monday, March 25, 2024.
The COPC is an official certification that verifies that particular degree programs available at local universities and colleges completely comply with the standards and guidelines set by the Commission on Higher Education (Ched).
MCC must receive this recognition to be able to continue providing free tuition through Ched's United Student Financial Assistance System of Tertiary Education (UniFast).
During the facilities turnover ceremony at MCC on Monday, City Councilor and Chairman of the Committee on Education, Malcolm Sanchez, said that they plan to wrap up their COPC application documents on Monday, March 25, and submit to Ched for an onsite validation visit.
Sanchez said they expect that Ched will visit MCC by the first week of April.
In a separate interview, Lilibeth Mayol, head of administration at MCC, said that Ched will provide a decision on the MCC's approval for a COPC immediately after the validation process.
Mayol said if the MCC receives approval for a COPC, the school would receive a special order to work out and reinstate its Unifast application.
Mayol and Sanchez expressed hope that they would be able to reinstate their Unifast within the year.
On Monday, March 25, the City Government turned over canopies for MCC's modular classrooms, speech, and computer laboratories. The school's library also received enhancements as part of their initiative to improve the school facilities.
These upgrades were in response to Ched's recommendations and included 65 new computer sets.
Sanchez said the facilities would help materialize that the MCC is a conducive place for learning, which could become a great advantage for the school to be granted a COPC.
New MCC building
Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes announced in another interview on Monday that the City is working on constructing a new MCC building.
As per the City's initial plan, the building will have five floors, and 77 rooms, and cost approximately P100 million.
The old MCC building only had one level and about 20 rooms.
The new building will be located at the old Mandaue Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) facility in Barangay Looc, and the male dormitory of the jail has already been relocated in its new facility in Dungguan Barangay Basak as of September 24, 2023.
The female inmates' transfer is still pending until their new facility is completed.
Mayol said they still need to review the MCC's master plan. But the construction of the building is set to start this year.
The MCC is a public higher institution supervised by the Mandaue City Government, located at the Mandaue City Sports and Cultural Complex in Barangay Centro. The school receives an annual subsidy of P10 million from the City's Special Education Fund, which was later increased to P40 million.
In 2019, the school was granted a free tuition program through Unifast, benefiting students during the 2019-2020 school year. However, its COPC re-application was turned down by Ched in 2022 due to lack of facilities and personnel.
In December 2023, Ched gave the school a new deadline of June 2024 to resubmit its COPC application.
As of school year 2023-2024, MCC has around 2,000 enrolled students with roughly 50 instructors, including part-time teachers.
While the COPC application for the MCC is still pending, the Mandaue City Government has been covering about P5,000 tuition per student since 2022. (HIC)