Office of Strategic Management and Quality Assurance

Directly under the Office of the President, the Office of Strategic Management and Quality Assurance (SMQA) provides central support to the University’s strategic planning and institutional development efforts. The SMQA serves as a central coordinator and facilitator of the University’s strategic planning process and monitors the University’s progress towards the attainment of its strategic goals. The Office is engaged in tracking key metrics and in establishing benchmarks among peer universities. Strategic information are interpreted and disseminated for continuous planning and decision-making purposes.

The SMQA plays a key role in promoting quality initiatives and nurturing a culture of quality and continuous improvement. It assists and facilitates external academic accreditation and assessment activities. The SMQA also serves as a central repository and clearinghouse for institutional data and assessment findings for University stakeholders.

SMQA’s strategic management portfolio is to 

• serve as the central coordinator and facilitator of the University’s strategic planning process, and monitor the University’s progress towards the attainment of its strategic goals. 
• develop the strategic planning template that each unit of the University prepares in their annual planning workshops, and monitors accomplishment through the performance evaluation reports submitted at the end of each academic year by the respective units. 
• track key metrics, summarizes them in an institutional dashboard, and provides benchmarks from peer universities
• interpret and disseminate strategic information for continuous planning and decision making processes. 

SMQA’s quality assurance portfolio is to 

• assist and facilitate national and international accreditation and assessment activities of the University
• coordinate internal quality assurance initiatives
• promote quality initiatives and best practices in the University
• communicate to the academic community and stakeholders the activities, criteria and standards, best practices, and opportunities provided by assessments and accreditations
• serve as a central repository and clearinghouse for institutional data and assessment findings for University stakeholders
• develop and maintain an infrastructure for facilitating accreditation and assessment and for demonstrating adherence to the criteria and standards set by the University and other external agencies
• harness data and information to further knowledge productivity particularly in institutional planning and policy making.

De La Salle University commits to continuous quality improvement and subjects itself regularly to external accreditation and assessments by national and international organizations. These cover accreditation and assessments of individual programs as well as of the whole institution.

Following an outcomes-based and typology-based national quality assurance process by the Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED), DLSU has been granted autonomous status from September 16, 2024 to September 15, 2027 (per CHED Memorandum Order 7, series 2024). Autonomous HEIs “demonstrate exceptional institutional quality and enhancement through internal QA systems, and demonstrate excellent program outcomes through a high proportion of accredited programs, the presence of Centers of Excellence and/or Centers of Development, and/or international certification.” CHED has further designated 14 academic programs of DLSU as Centers of Excellence (COEs) to recognize units “which continuously demonstrate excellent performance in the areas of instruction, research and publication, extension and linkages and institutional qualifications.” An additional five academic programs have been named as Centers of Development (CODs) in recognition of their evident above average performance in teaching, research, and extension services.

DLSU’s undergraduate and graduate school programs have regularly undergone accreditation by the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges, and Universities (PAASCU). While PAASCU conducts and certifies the accreditation, it is the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP) that grants the level of accreditation, with Level IV being the highest for the undergraduate level and Level III the highest for the graduate level. DLSU has also been granted Institutional Accreditation Status by the FAAP from September 2021 to May 2025. FAAP’s certification cites DLSU “for its continuing tradition of exemplary accomplishments in the areas of instruction, research, and community service and high performance of its graduates in licensure examinations; for the laudable practice leading to internal efficiency and external productivity; for its meritorious record of excellence as evidenced by high level of program accreditation and internal quality assurance mechanism.”

Since regional program assessments began in 2007, 22 programs have been successfully assessed (with some of them re-assessed) by international teams from the ASEAN University Network (AUN-QA). DLSU was also granted the AUN quality mark at the institutional level in 2017. Its Engineering programs have received accreditation from the Accrediting Body for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and the Philippine Technological Council (PTC-ACBET).

Institutional Recognition, Accreditation, and Assessment Status

DLSU Programs granted Centers of Excellence and Centers of Development status by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED)

DLSU Programs accredited by the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges, and Universities (PAASCU) and granted Accreditation Level Status by the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP)

DLSU Programs Assessed by ASEAN University Network Quality Assurance (AUN QA)

DLSU Programs Accredited by Philippine Technological Council-Accreditation and Certification Board for Engineering and Technology (PTC-ACBET)

DLSU Programs Accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering Technology (ABET)

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