NwSSU formally inaugurated

(This news item appeas in today's edition of the Leyte-Samar Daily Express)

TACLOBAN CITY - The second state university in Samar province was formally inaugurated yesterday with no less than the chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education, Secretary Emmanuel Angeles, leading the occasion.

Among the highlights of the inauguration of the Northwest Samar State University was the installation of its first state university president, Dr. Socorro Bohol.

Those who witnessed the elevation of the then Tiburcio Tancinco Memorial Institute of Science and Technology (TTMIST) into a state university was Samar Representative Reynaldo Uy who shepherd for the passage of a law creating the second state university in Samar province.

The province’s first state university was the Samar State University in Catbalogan.

Aside from Angeles and Uy, those who witnessed the milestone were Calbayog city officials led by Mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento and Vice Mayor Ronaldo Aquino, state university presidents in the region and members of the NwSSU board of regents that includes Regional Director Buenaventura Go-Soco of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

In his message, Uy said that his happiness over the conversion of the TTMIST into a state university was a fulfillment not only for himself but the entire people of Calbayog and Samar province.

"Being now a university, more challenges and bigger tasks lie ahead for NwSSU. All these in the name of extending better service to our constituents, of extending quality education for everyone. With our cooperation and dedication, capacity and integrity of our friends from the NwSSU, there is no doubt that we will succeed", the Samar solon said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law the creation of the NwSSU last October 14 as contained under Republic Act 9717.

Mayor Sarmiento said that the inauguration of the NwSSU was a “step towards the path which leads us to extending quality education to the students of Calbayog and of Samar.”

“And I call on the NwSSU to do their share in achieving that,” he said, reminding the university’s officials and educators.

At present, the NwSSU has a total student population of 4,800 who are enrolled to its 35 courses which include education, engineering, hotel and restaurant, and Graduate studies.

The new university has about 105 regular teachers with another 60 working as part time teachers.

The first president of the NwSSU, meantime, vowed to provide quality education to the people of Samar province.

“With confidence, we look forward the challenge of the ideals that lie ahead. With confidence, we look forward to being able to achieve and perform the state universities and colleges mandates along instruction, research, extension and production, all in the name of relevant quality education,” she said.

The then Tiburcio Tancinco Memorial Institute of Science and Technology started as a vocational school way back until it was elevated into a tertiary level offering various courses. It was named after a former member of Congress. (JOEY A. GABIETA/LITO ABALA BAGUNAS)