ALMOST FORTY years ago, a man was invited by his friend to become a part-time lecturer in the Loyola Schools (LS). Several decades after, Alfredo Pascual is now set to become the new President of the University of the Philippines (UP).
“I have a passion for teaching. It provided me the feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment, having contributed to the molding of young minds,” said Pascual.
During Pascual’s LS teaching stint in the 1970’s, he taught financial management and project development courses in the Management Engineering and Business Management Departments.
In addition to this, Pascual mentioned that his teaching experience will help him fulfill his obligations as UP President. Teaching, according to him, taught him the values of honor and excellence.
“[Honor and excellence] were the values I expected from the students I taught. So I had to serve as a model,” said Pascual.
Pascual will officially take reins of the state university beginning February 20.
Vision statement
According to UP Faculty Regent Judy Taguiwalo, the Incoming UP President’s vision statement posted in the UP website was one of the reasons why she voted for Pascual’s presidency.
As stated in the vision statement, Pascual doesn’t just aim for UP to remain a great university, but to “actually start and manage effectively the quick and determined march of UP through the next few years of the 21st century.”
As one of the people who will have a stake at what direction the university will take, Pascual has a clear vision of what a great university is.
He said that it should be “anchored on academic excellence, has a highly recognized research function, has excellent faculty and staff, recruits students from among the best and brightest in the community it serves, prepares its students for successful careers and responsible citizenship, and a model for good governance to the country it serves.”
Career background
Before Pascual was voted last December 3 as the 20th UP President, he took on various occupations after receiving his Chemistry degree from UP.
Among these occupations was his being a part-time lecturer in the LS.
He said that his personality benefited greatly from his experience as a teacher.
“Teaching enabled me to further strengthen my grasp of the subject matters I covered in my lectures. It provided an opportunity for continued learning and growth in the subjects I was teaching. More importantly, teaching also helped me develop the ability to motivate and relate to other people [such as my students],” said Pascual.
Apart from being a part-time lecturer in the LS, Pascual also became a full-time professor in the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), and was an investment banker as well. Eventually, he joined the Asian Development Bank as an international development banker after working for AIM for nine years in the 1980’s.
Experience in the LS
Pascual said that despite being only part-time during his stint in the LS, he said that he enjoyed the experience because to his strong passion for teaching.
“On my teaching days, I would wake up early to be able to make it to my 7:00 am class before proceeding to my office in Makati. So part-time teaching then was somewhat of a sacrifice but I enjoyed doing it,” said Pascual.
He added that the best thing about his teaching experience is that he was able to teach brilliant young minds, and he enjoyed the interactions that resulted from it.
“I was fortunate enough that I handled classes [in the LS] containing brilliant students because it really helped me enjoy my job as a teacher,” he said.
As Pascual prepared to officially become the UP President, a lot of preparations are still underway.
But he said that like teaching, the new position will definitely be a challenging yet rewarding job.
