HISTORY

The Office of the Vice President for Research, Extension, Planning and Development (OVPREPD) may be the youngest of all the VP offices in the University, but it certainly has one of the most interesting beginnings.

From its progenitor, the Department of Research and Statistics was established in November 1951, the office underwent changes in name as well as in functions. The different presidents that steered the University have caused the reorganization of the research arm of their administrations as they saw fit.

In 1955, the Department was renamed the Department of Research, Statistics, and Evaluation. In 1961, it was called the Department of Research and Statistics with Dean Mateo Esguerra as Head. Under the leadership of Prof. Edna Formilleza in 1970, the Department was considered an "auxiliary instructional department" under the direct supervision of the Office of the President.

When martial law was declared in 1972, the Department of Research and Statistics was converted into an administrative office, the Office of Planning and Statistics with Prof. Leticia Arbis as the Chief. Another reorganization made by PCC President Isabelo T. Crisostomo in 1974-1975 renamed the unit the Office of Research and Development with Mr. Alfredo Uy as Chief. Prof. Elmer Abueg took over from Mr. Uy. In 1977, Dr. Pablo T. Mateo upgraded the Office of Research and Development to a department and renamed it the Department of Research under the Vice President for Academic Affairs. Prof. Leticia Arbis was reappointed as its head with the position of a director. In 1979, the PCC was converted into a chartered state university through PD 1341. The Department was restructured and named Department of Planning and Research with four units under it.

A popular mass action in 1986 reinstalled Dr. Nemesio Prudente as PUP President. Another University reorganization took place and the Department was renamed Department of Research, Planning and Development (DRPD).

In 1994, Prof. Paz Navarro was appointed DRPD Director, replacing Prof. Leticia Arbis who retired from the University. During this time, the Science and Technology Research and Development Center (SCITECH), Special Projects Office (SPO), and the Electronic Data Processing (EDP) were put under the supervisory wings of the DRPD.

Dr. Mely Padilla took over the DRPD reins from Prof. Navarro when the latter retired. The research functions of the DRPD then included the conduct of institutional researches, data bank management for faculty, staff and students, and the conduct of faculty evaluation by the students.

Two bodies were formed, namely, the University Research Council (URC) and the University Project Evaluation Committee (UPEC) to promote research among the University constituents.

In November 1998, Dr. Ofelia M. Carague ascended the PUP Presidency. A university reorganization took place and the DRPD was elevated into the Office of the Vice President for Research and Development (OVPRD), with Dr. Normita A. Villa as the Vice President. This proved the University's renewed commitment to make research a focal point in its bid for excellence.

The determination with which the University committed itself to research required focused efforts that resulted in the formulation of the University Research Manual that contained the guidelines for the preparation of research proposals by colleges and other units, as well as for the evaluation of these research proposals by the UPEC and URC for university funding. The OVPRD also began exploring possible research collaboration with national and international organizations.

Under the skillful leadership of OIC Dr. Samuel M. Salvador, PUP continues to make rapid strides in research and development. For the 100th Foundation Anniversary, the OVPRD has committed to write the PUP History, publish 100 monographs, and a book on leading alumni entrepreneurs.

In May 2006 Dr. Victoria C. Naval took over as the Vice President for Research and Development. In the brief period that Dr. Victoria C. Naval assumed the vice presidency of the OVPRD before her promotion to the office of the EVP. Under her leadership, she set new directions for research and development by forging research consortiums with leading educational institutions to strengthen studies on energy, environment, food processing and others.

Also included as accomplishments as VP for Research and Development, Dr. Naval led the University to its participation in technology innovation for commercialization program, conduct of international benchmarking on journal publications, development of the OVPRD website and active engagement of PUP in CHED research projects.

Meanwhile, when Dr. Dante Guevarra was installed as the new president of the University in 2007, his administration has embarked on its mission and vision to make PUP a Total University.

Aside from the new president, the research agenda was also primarily administered by Dr. Pastor Malaborbor as the Vice–President for Research and Development (VPRD) and became Vice President for Research, Extension Development (VPRED) in 2009.

Under VP Malaborbor, PUP reviewed the existing University Manual and identified its research priorities which were the following: energy, transportation and environment; poverty and population; Information and communication technology; food and health and Total University.

From 2007-2008, the VPRD also formulated the incentives and benefits to motivate faculty to engage in research. He also established the Center for Data and Statistical Analysis, Center for Peace and Poverty and the creation of the Office for Cooperative Studies to be included as a component of the Center of Entrepreneurial Development.

In 2007 also, the Annual Research Awards (ARAW) was established. It aims to promote a research culture and encourages the innovative-minded youth. Another significant event in that year was approval of the PUP Intellectual Property Policy on April 19, 2007.

In 2009, PUP forged research consortia with different agencies and revised the University policies and guidelines on the area of research and extension. It also created the PUP Research Extension and Development Foundation. The OVPRED also prepared the pertinent data for the PUP Strategic Planning 2010-2014.

From 2010 to 2011, while the University is searching for “ways and means” without let up for building PUP into a Total University to a People’s University, the offices under OVPRED mainly conducted researches and studies about the issues and concerns of the poorest of the poor in the country.

In 2012, Dr. Emanuel Castro De Guzman was appointed as President of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines by the Commission on Higher Education in accordance with the provisions of Republic Act 8292 otherwise known as the Higher Education Modernization Act of 1997, and by virtue of Resolution No. 872, series of 2012 passed on March 14, 2012 by the PUP Board of Regents.

A new University vision and strategic objectives were formulated and sectoral groupings of offices, colleges and departments were made. Dr. De Guzman’s vision and mission of transforming PUP into an epistemic community has produced great accomplishments for research and extension. Dr. Manuel M. Muhi was appointed as Vice President for Research, Extension and Development.

In his first two years in office from 2012-2013, President De Guzman strengthened the offices and units in research. It created the Research and Extension Management Department (formerly Research Management Office) which included the Intellectual Property and Commercialization Office, Innovation and Technology Support Office, and Center for Entrepreneurial Development, Institutional Planning Office and Publications Office

About research outputs, PUP published 71 studies in refereed/non-refereed journals while 133 were presented in international, national, and regional conferences. There were 200 copyrighted works while 12 externally-funded research projects were achieved.

The University also revisited research policies like the University Intellectual Property Policy (for public presentation) and the University Research and Development Manual (for public presentation). It also increased financial assistance to faculty researchers while the Copyright Guidelines were implemented.

On the other hand, notable achievements on President de Guzman’s Agenda 2 to embed a culture of research in PUP in 2013 were the following:

The University also convened various researchers from various higher educational institutions on October 3-4, 2013 at the historic Manila Hotel to celebrate its nearly eleven decades of existence as a leading academic institution.

IRCHE 2013 is an offshoot of the successful National Research Conferences organized by PUP in 2004 and 2006. This international assemblage of research enthusiasts forms part of PUP’s grand vision to transform itself into an epistemic community, an institution that generates, propagates and disseminates knowledge through research. It is primarily aimed at promoting and strengthening research in public and private colleges and universities.

The University also highlighted the best practices in offering and fostering a conducive environment and culture for research; build and maintain research expertise in higher education institutions for national development; explore various modalities of research partnership/linkages between producers and consumers of research skills and knowledge; and value the significance of strategies and actions for networking among researchers in promoting and sustaining higher education research as well as output utilization through IRCHE 2013.

Meanwhile, taking small steps to realize the University’s goal of becoming a research university, officials from the different colleges and offices of the PUP presented their papers in international conferences and conducted university and college visits in Asia, United States, and Europe.

For 2014-2016, the University Research Agenda was categorized into five general themes: (1) peace, security and poverty reduction; (2) accelerating infrastructure development through science and technology; (3) competitive industry and entrepreneurship; (4) social and cultural development; and (5) conservation, protection and rehabilitation of the environment towards sustainable development.

These research agenda described as clear, practical and realizable was meant as follows: 1) be aligned with the strategic plan of the University; (2) unify the direction and framework of the research activities of the University; (3) align the research efforts of the University with the thrust and priorities of the national government agencies e.g. Department of Science and Technology (DOST), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), among others; and (4) generate researches, scientific innovations, speculative and theoretical paradigms which are expected to propel economic, scientific, social, cultural and technological development.

Institutional funding and other research support mechanisms provided by the PUP Administration propelled the steady production of research output undertaken by faculty and students as well. At this period, Vice President for Research, Extension and Development Dr. Joseph Mercado primarily ensured the research and extension supports.

Researches undertaken by PUP faculty were presented and honored in various academic fora/colloquia, and published by research institutions with national and international readership. A total of 48 research papers produced by PUP faculty members saw print in international, CHED- accredited, and local journals.

PUP also forged a rearticulated research framework and agenda to fine tune its research thrusts with the the University’s strategic goals.

The revised University Research Development Manual was approved by the Board of Regents during the 147th Meeting held on December 12, 2014.

In 2015, The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has granted Category B accreditation to three PUP research journals—The Mabini Review, PUP Journal of Science and Technology, and Social Sciences and Development Review— acknowledging them as “national level publications”

In that year also, academics from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines have participated in at least 127 international, 95 national, 5 regional and local, and 11 institutional research seminars, conferences and fora. Around 189 papers have made its way into various international, national, local, and CHED-accredited research journals.

Withe the second term of President De Guzman in 2016, the culture of research was continued imbibed and lived by the academic community.

Out of the 144 completed researches in 2017, 93 researchers were undertaken by the faculty in Sta. Mesa, 16 were completed by faculty in the Branches and 35 researchers in the Satellite Campuses.

The Research Management Office (RMO) evaluated and recommended 36 International Paper Presentation grants, 14 approved Publication Incentive and 8 Thesis/Dissertation grants.

Meanwhile, to further improve the research capabilities of faculty, administrative employees and students and showcase their scholarly studies in various disciplines, the University had sponsored different kinds of research conferences and activities.

The OVPRED, in partnership with the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Senior High School (SHS) conducted a Seminar on Pedagogics of Practical Research" on July 14, 2017. It aimed to equip Senior High School faculty with the knowledge they need in teaching practical research. It also conducted the event “Resounding the 2017 University Funded Research Project: A Research Colloquium” held on July 21, 2017. Fourteen institutional research papers funded by the university were presented with 150 PUP faculty and officials.

The University also spearheaded the “Research and Development Orientation on CHED Research and Extension Priorities” with the theme “Pathways to Equity, Relevance and advancement in Research, Innovation and Extension in HEIs” on September 7, 2017. It also organized “Publication 101: “A Training-Workshop on Research Publication” held on September 14-15, 2017, which was attended by 150 PUP faculty and officials.

More than 400 delegates from different universities in the Philippines and abroad participated in the 2017 International Higher Education Research Forum (IHERF) held on August 23 to 25, 2017 at the New World Manila Bay Hotel, Manila.

In addition, more than 500 research students from different universities and colleges including PUP were gathered for Multidisciplinary Graduate Research Conference held on March 11, 2017 at the Century Park Hotel, The event was organized by the PUP Research, Extension, Planning and Development Foundation Inc., in partnership with PUP Graduate School and PUP Open University System. The Graduate Research Conference is an annual event of PUP Research, Extension, Planning and Development Foundation Inc. aimed to provide attendees with a great opportunity to develop skills relevant to the research process.

In recognition of PUP’s unwavering and improving research works and other worthy undertakings, The Commission on Higher Education and Office of Civil Defense (OCD awarded the Polytechnic University of the Philippines a total of P39.5 million research grants to support the university’s research endeavors. The CHED research funding is under the Discovery-Applied Research and Extension for Trans-inter-disciplinary Opportunities (DARE TO) program which aims to stimulate strong collaborative research and innovation ventures, and sustainable partnership for extension activities.

On other hand, to promote and safeguard the various researchers and inventions created by the various members of the academic community, the University received 25 Utility Model Certificates from the Technology Application and Promotion Institute (TAPI). A utility model is entitled to seven years of protection from the date of filing (IPOPHIL). One hundred forty-nine technologies from the college of Engineering, Information Technology and Food Technology students are still on process at that time for possible Patent or Utility Model Registration.

In 2018 to 2019, under the leadership of Vice President for Research, Extension and Development Dr. Anna Ruby P. Gapasin, the University continued to reap remarkable accomplishments in the research and extension services.

Structure and function reviews of offices under research an extension were done resulting to the creation of new institute and centers. The Institute for Gender and Development (IGAD) with its two centers namely Center for Gender Studies and Center for Training and Advocacy were established. The Center for Human Rights and Studies was retained under Institute for Social Sciences Development (ISSD).

In 2019, research publications increased by 137.5% with more studies recognized by the four highly-reputable indexes namely: Scopus, Science Direct, Web of Science, and accredited journals of the Commission on Higher Education-Journal Incentive Program (CHED-JIP). There were 57 research publications in 2019 compared to only 24 in 2018. There were 37 research publications printed in Scopus-indexed journals in 2019 than only 8 research papers published in the same indexed journals the preceding year.

The University Board of Regents (BOR) in its Special Meeting on October 23, 2019 approved the Revised Implementing Guidelines on Incentives for Publication and Citation and the Implementing Guidelines for Gawad Lathala-International Publication Excellence submitted by the Research Management Office (RMO).

The Revised Implementing Guidelines on Incentives for Publication and Citation aimed to increase the number of published works of the University and to encourage more faculty members to disseminate research results.

The guidelines also provide financial assistance to cover publication fees of scholarly works in various research journals indexed in Web of Science (WoS) and/or Scopus not more than Php 50,000.00 per year per applicant. This is on top of the incentives given to each article once it is published or cited. The author may receive as much as Php 50,000.00 per published article in various indexed journals.

Meanwhile, the Implementing Guidelines for Gawad Lathala (International Publication Excellence Award) submitted to the BOR was also approved during the Special Meeting. The guidelines have proposed recognition to PUP faculty in various academic fields with several high-quality publications in Social Science, Education, Business, Humanities, Science, Technology and Engineering.

Gawad Lathala guidelines provide recognition to members of the academic community who published several scholarly works in research journals indexed in WoS and/or Scopus. The author may receive a plaque of appreciation and the applicant with the highest number of publications (4 and above) and may automatically be awarded Php 50,000.00 The articles published must be within the preceding two years prior to the date of application.

Qualified faculty may receive Gawad Lathala Pilak na Medalya of Gawad Lathala Gintong Medalya with corresponding cash incentives.

On the other hand, the RMO reiterated that it expects a healthier research and development environment where everyone is involved and participating for the benefit of the entire academic community. There are other 11 revised research and development implementing guidelines that seek approval from the University BOR.

In addition, the Revised Implementing Guidelines on Merit Promotion on the Basis of Research Publication and Citation has proposed that the total points to be earned by faculty will be increased by 10 points from the old system.

Based on the revised implementing guidelines an Instructor with sole authorship must earn a total of 20 points to get a sub-rank or rank promotion. On the other hand, for multiple authorship, an Assistant Professor must earn 30 points, 40 points for Associate Professor and 50 points for Professor to get a sub-rank or rank promotion. For multiple authorship, the points earned for publication or citation in national accredited-journals and international journals like World of Science and Scopus-indexed shall be divided among the number of authors of the article.

The OVPRED also expanded its network for research as it forged memorandum of agreements with partner institutions in journal publication. These partner institutions were Lyceum of the Philippines-Batangas, Philippine Normal University-Manila, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Negros Oriental State University-Dumaguete City, Southern Leyte State University -Leyte Province, University of San Jose Recoletos-Cebu City and, Institute for Engineering Research and Publication Singapore.

Meanwhile, the University and some government agencies continued their assistance for research endeavors in 2019. PUP has shelled out P913,370.34 for Internal Funded Research while the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) provided P43,278,368.00 for External Funded Research.

In addition, copyrighted works also increased from 1, 688 in 2018 to 3,187 in 2019. More so, patent, utility model, trademark and industrial design certificates also rose from 24 in 2018 to 46 in 2019.

On the other hand, extension beneficiaries registered a 219.54% increase from 302 in 2018 to 965 in 2019. This was mainly attributed to the expansion of the University’s extension services from the pilot barangays in Sta. Mesa to other extension partners.

With expanding functions and concerns for research and extension services, faculty researchers (FRs) and Faculty Extensionists (FEs) from various colleges, branches and campuses of the University were appointed. The appointments aim to produce more quality research and extension projects with high social-impact or relevance. The designees are also expected to spearhead research-based extension projects for technology transfer.

These appointments helped the Research Management Office (RMO) and Extension Management Office (EMO) for more meaningful extension services and review of policies on publication, research incentives, and awards. The two offices have also started their review on manuals on research and extension works of the University.

Meanwhile, as another big development, the OVPRED is now working closely with the researchers of different colleges, campuses and branches of the University for the commercialization of PUP innovations and products.

Led by the Intellectual Property Management Office (IPMO), actual production and selling of products out of the students’ research output were presented in the 2020 State and Universities and Colleges-Commission on Higher Education Expo on March 9-11.

Meanwhile, the Andrew Gonzales Philippine Citation Index (AGPCI) has bestowed three Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) journals of Certification of Recognition on February 28. The three journals were the PUP Journal Science of Technology, Mabini Review and Bisig. The journals were among the first batch of Philippine journals included in AGPCI.

On the other hand, the Institute of Science and Technology Research (ISTR) spearheaded in letting the laboratories and projects housed in the Engineering, Science and Research Center or ESRC. It is now conducting laboratory researches and studies that will not only benefit the University but the country in general.

As another big step for growth and development, in 2019, six processes namely research services, research production, research capability building, research dissemination, intellectual property documentation and extension services passed the surveillance audit of AJA Registrar’s Inc. now SOCOTEC Certification and awarded the ISO 9001: 2015 Certification.

At present, more positive outputs are expected for the years to come based on the priorities laid out by the OVPREPD. Some of these are the plans to increase publications in recognized journals by the various institutes, offices, and branches, commercialization of research outputs, technology transfer through extension, rise in the number of utility models and patents and the strengthening of linkages for research and extension external grants.