THE OCCUPATIONAL Therapy program of UST remains unrecognized abroad despite UST having filed its application for accreditation five years ago.
Dean Jocelyn Agcaoili of the College of Rehabilitation Sciences (CRS) blamed the Occupational Therapy Association of the Philippines (Otap) which she said has been sitting on UST’s application since 2003.
Because UST does not have Otap recognition, its OT program remains unrecognized by the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT).
According to the WFOT website, there are only five accredited OT schools in the country: University of the Philippines-Manila (accredited since 1968), University of Perpetual Help System-Laguna (1990), Velez College (2000), Cebu Doctors’ College (2001), and Emilio Aguinaldo College (2006).
The Varsitarian learned of the unaccredited status of UST’s OT program when a UST graduate complained to the paper that despite having topped the board recently, he failed to land a job in the United States. He explained he could not take the US licensure exam because UST is not accredited by the WFOT.
He recalled that UST professors had boasted to OT students the latter would be immediately hired in the US because of the fine reputation of the UST OT program.
“It was so disappointing,” said the UST board topnotcher, who asked not to be named.
When the Varsitarian brought the matter to Dean Agcaoili, she said UST has been enduring the delays by the Otap.
“It took the association two years (in 2005) to respond to our request and say that our Occupational Therapy program lacked the requirements for accreditation,” Agcaoili said.
She added she did not know what the requirements exactly were since she took office as dean only last year.
“The Otap told me that the official handling the University’s application is missing and that the association cannot locate him,” Agcaoili said.
Otap president Arscille Rosario Gozon told the Varsitarian the association has been unable to act on UST’s application for lack of manpower.
“Most of them (Otap staff) are going to the US for better paying jobs there,” Gozon said in a phone interview.
There has been no permanent head for the group’s Educational Research Committee, which handles the applications of schools for accreditation, she added.
UST returned the application for the third time in 2005, but the accreditation body found another set of missing requirements in the Occupational Therapy program of CRS.
Otap wanted a detailed description of the course contents and updates on the internship and training programs from affiliated centers, Agcaoili said.
“What is hard is that we were able to comply with one requirement Otap is asking, and then another (one) pops into the picture,” Agcaoili said. “Otap does not point out all the missing requirements in one blow.”
Gozon said the first job of an appointed chair of the Educational Research Committee is to review what his or her predecessor has left.
“As practice, upon appointment as chair of the committee, you must first review the requirements of the schools that have pending application for accreditation,” Gozon said. “That is why the accreditation process of UST has taken that long.”
Nonetheless, despite the missing requirements of UST, Otap will conduct an ocular inspection of UST on Nov. 13 to 14, signaling development on the accreditation process, Gozon said.
Agcaoili, on the other hand, assured graduates and students that CRS is working on the accreditation of Occupational Therapy in both Otap and WFOT.
As of presstime, the alumni association of Occupational Therapy in the University is seeking to have an “open forum” between the administration, alumni, and students to inform them of the pending application of UST in Otap. Prinz P. Magtulis
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