Assoc. Prof. Cristina Castro-Cabral, PhD, | Rev. Fr. Clarence Victor Marquez, O.P., SThD |
September 25, 2020
Organization Culture
This is a case study in the integration of private sectarian schools in the Philippines. In 2012, the Dominican Province of the Philippines (DPP), a religious congregation belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, legislated the “move towards integrating all existing educational institutions of the Province within two venerable and historical traditions, that of Colegio de San Juan de Letran (1620) and the University of Santo Tomas (1611).” In 2014, four of these schools bound themselves unto ONELETRAN integration with inaugural efforts in religious education and research. This research undertaking sought to: (1) Identify the specific steps undertaken to effect integration in the religious education and research clusters; (2) Identify the challenges encountered in terms of organizational structure, human resources, financial resources; (3) Describe the kind of academic environment that would be conducive to successfully effect the integration; (4) Identify the benefits that have emerged since the integration; and (5) Craft a theory and model derived from ONELETRAN experience that may be used to initiate integration efforts in the other areas. This research is a “midterm assessment” of what has been accomplished so far by ONELETRAN from 2012 to 2017. Uniquely, it employs the grounded theory model in order to solicit the ideas and experiences of people “on the ground,” to listen to their voices, to articulate their views, to enter into discourse with those directly tasked to collaborate on the integration project and thus provide learning for the greater public of higher educational institutions.