Pangasinan State University welcomed the Northern Iloilo State University (NISU) for a two-day benchmarking activity as it continues to showcase its best practices in the field of research, extension and innovation.

The 18 delegates who flew all the way from the Visayas were treated to a ‘Meeting of Minds’ held at PSU’s audio-visual room on January 24 for the main program.

Dr. Razeale G. Resultay, OIC-Vice-President for Research, Extension, Innovation and Gender and Development (REIGN) expressed elation over another opportunity of learning and developing a culture of quality.

“Meeting of minds can raise standards in education by creating a model of excellence. Sharing best practices is our way of articulating and operationalizing continuous quality improvement,” Dr. Resultay said in her welcome remarks.

Bolstering participatory discussions vis-a vis the sharing of information and best practices through an audio-visual presentation, Dr. Resultay, along with the four Directors under REIGN namely Dr. Randy Joy Ventayen for Research and Development, Dr. Armando Junio for Extension Services, Engr. Jeff Pereyras for Innovation Support and Dr. Romary Lincod for Gender and Development, thoroughly highlighted important factors in their presentation.

Center heads and focal persons of the 12 research centers and units under REIGN also shared their insights and first-hand experiences in the field.
Questions during the open forum centered on challenges in terms of R &E engagement, financial incentives of researchers and extensionists, research publication and funding, ethics institutional board, knowledge management, quality research output and commercialization process of innovative products.

In response, the NISU delegation led by Dr. Allemar Jhone Delima, its Vice-President for Research and Extension, said PSU is an epitome of Higher Education Institution being one of the best.
“We want to follow the track that PSU has traversed in the field of Research. Gusto naming to be at par (with PSU),” Dr. Delima said.

Before the day ended, the delegates toured the various offices and buildings of PSU including the newly-constructed Golden Lion Hotel.

For the second day, the NISU delegates were toured to the Food Innovation Center in Bayambang Campus and the Mushroom Technology Center in Sta. Maria Campus to personally witness the operations of the centers.
Consequently, University President Dr. Elbert M. Galas thanked all the delegates from NISU and expressed that PSU continues to strengthen its capability in Research, Extension and Innovation to ensure that results are utilized for community development, strong research culture and technology transfer that will benefit the public.