The University of Santo Tomas passed the two-day 3rd Surveillance Audit, which is part of the second cycle of its ISO 9001:2008 certification without incurring any non-conformance. The audit, held from March 8-9, 2016, was led by Mr. Erveene Zoleta of TÜV SÜD PSB Philippines, Inc., who made the official announcement during the closing meeting.
Engr. Nestor R. Ong, PIE, ASEAN Eng, Assistant Director of the Quality Management Office explained that UST’s external auditor performed the assessment to ensure that UST’s Quality Management System continues to meet all elements of the scope of registration and effectively maintains the entire requirements of the ISO 9001:2008 international standard. Ong emphasized that UST has been certified to ISO 9001:2008 standards since 2012, and its re-certification was passed in 2015 to complete successfully the first-cycle certification.
Quality Management Director Assoc. Prof. Joehanna K. Ngo, PIE, ASEAN Eng stated that the external auditors (Mr. Erveene Zoleta and Mr. Xavier Lance Yu Dy) together with the technical expert (Engr. Eugenia Santiago) visited five (5) faculties and colleges (Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Civil Law, College of Rehabilitation Sciences, Conservatory of Music, and Faculty of Engineering), one (1) school (Junior High School), and ten (10) support units (Office of the Registrar, Facilities Management Office, Purchasing Office, Office for Admissions, Office of Public Affairs, Office for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Human Resource Department, Miguel de Benavides Library, Office of Alumni Relations, and Quality Management Office) during the two-day surveillance audit. The said units were randomly selected based on the audit plan.
The Quality Management Office, the office that assumes a leadership role in professionalizing the quality management operations of the University, presented evidence on the extent of top level management support in the following areas details of management review, Student Satisfaction Survey (SSS), Operational Plans and OSIR (Objective, Status, Issue, and Resolution), verification of corrective actions from previous repeat audit, documents control, records control, internal audit, and corrective and preventive action. The challenge given by Mr. Zoleta is to continue to strengthen the internal audit in which the requirements of 8.2.2 of the ISO 9001:2008 standard are basically satisfied. The internal audit procedure is a mandatory procedure for ISO 9001 certification purpose.
The audit began with an opening meeting attended by all concerned academic officials, administrators and unit QMRs (61 attendees), followed by the top management dialogue with the external auditors attended by Vice-Rector Rev. Fr. Richard G. Ang, O.P., Vice-Rector for Finance/Treasurer Rev. Fr. Manuel F. Roux, O.P., Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Prof. Clarita D. Carillo, PhD, Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation Prof. Maribel G. Nonato, PhD, Secretary-General Rev. Fr. Winston F. Cabading, O.P., Planning Director Engr. Charlie A. Marquez, PIE, Assoc. Prof. Joehanna K. Ngo, PIE, ASEAN Eng, and Engr. Nestor R. Ong, PIE, ASEAN Eng. The conversation focused on top management’s business and strategic plans.
- From left: Quality Management Document Controller Mr. Jeremy C. Navarro, Quality Management Assistant Director Engr. Nestor R. Ong, PIE, ASEAN Eng, TÜV SÜD lead auditor Mr. Erveene Zoleta, Quality Management Director Assoc. Prof. Joehanna K. Ngo, PIE, ASEAN Eng, TÜV SÜD Technical Expert Engr. Eugenia Santiago, TÜV SÜD Quality Manager, QMR, and Exteral Auditor Mr. Xavier Lance Yu Dy, Quality Management Specialist Mr. Eugene B. Maruquin II, and Quality Management Specialist Mr. Vien Vic G. Flores
- All concerned academic officials, administrators, and unit QMRs, witht he external auditors
At the closing meeting, which was attended by all concerned academic officials, administrators, and unit QMRs (37 attendees), lead auditor Mr. Erveene Zoleta confirmed that there were nine (9) opportunities for improvement (I), eight (8) minor nonconformities (MiN), and zero (0) nonconformities (N) identified during the actual audit. The University’s QMS remains effective and has been recommended for continued certification.
UST is now challenged to engage in a seamless transition from ISO 9001:2008 to the ISO 9001:2015 for next year’s external audit. The new ISO 9001 standard emphasizes risk-based thinking beyond what has been seen in earlier versions.
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