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MMSU: Moving closer to becoming a ‘dream university’

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By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff reporter

BATAC CITY—Mariano Marcos State University president Shirley C. Agrupis in this city has asked the help of members of the National Panel of Technical Experts (NPTE) of the Climate Change Commission (CCC) for the funding of seven development programs, which might lead to the transformation of MMSU into a “dream university”.

Ms. Agrupis said this kind of university will surely help the CCC in its mandate to minimize the adverse effects of climate change and, at the same time, serves as a springboard towards national development.

The seven proposed projects are: 1) strengthening the development of a smart-farm green and innovative university; 2) establishment of a National Research Center for Climate Change; 3) green wall model project for climate change mitigation; 4) establishment of renewable energy engineering model farm; 5) intensification of the One-Town-One-Technology (OTOTech) approach for people and community empowerment towards sustainable Ilocandia development amidst climate change; 6) strengthening stakeholders’ adaptive capacity to climate change for improved governance of agriculture, forestry, and natural resources in Laoag City river basin; and 7) development of a climate informed – crop monitoring and forecasting system (CI-CMFS) for risk management in agriculture in the Philippines.

“In MMSU, these flagship projects are in line with our research, development and extension (RDE) programs which help address climate change mitigation and adaptation. We have been doing climate change-related activities especially in bioenergy and we have a team that is very active in doing climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies because this phenomenon is negatively affecting our agriculture and fisheries efforts,” she said.

Ms. Agrupis also presented to the CCC some projects in line with solar and renewable energy initiatives to build a green energy landscape in the university. One is the use of electronic jeepneys or e-jeeps run by solar energy, and the use of solar panels that serve as roofs of five college buildings.

Responding to Ms. Agrupis’ presentation, Atty. Efren MG Bascos, CCC chief legal officer, promised to send to MMSU the CCC’s Chief of Higher Education Institution partnership division so that the agency can coordinate on the proposed projects be supported.

“We will consider your projects in the cabinet cluster meeting for adaptation and mitigation, especially on the green wall project you want to develop,” Mr. Bascos said, adding that he wants to get a good proposal from MMSU on this project, including the CI-CMFS.

Other MMSU aggressive RDE projects
In line with aggressive agriculture for RDE, the MMSU has already produced and patented some bio-fertilizer and bio-pesticides for crops. Likewise, to support the green-energy landscape, the university is offering Professional Science Masters in Renewable Energy Engineering (PSMREE) degree in the Graduate School.  

“The main justification why the Commission on Higher Education approved the offering of PSMREE in MMSU is because Ilocos Norte is now tagged as emerging renewable energy province of the Philippines,” Ms. Agrupis said, adding that the province is now the host of three large wind generators located in Bangui, Pagudpud, and Burgos towns, aside from the solar farms in Currimao and Burgos.

In terms of RDE initiative to maintain the clean and green environment in the campus, the university now have the clean air pollution management project in partnership with Kansas State University.

“We have our air quality monitoring laboratory at the Crops Research Laboratory and we claim to be the only SUC in Region 1 to have this ambient air quality monitoring equipment,” she said.

At present, MMSU in partnership with the Ilocos Norte government is set to launch the green tourism development model using OTOTech. The main concept of this program is to deploy MMSU researchers in the community, find the community of interest, mix the community of practice with little S&T intervention, and enhance it with existing technology towards a cleaner and greener environment.

“The reason why I am very aggressive in presenting these projects is that we aim to become a smart-farm university (SFU) and the first SUC to become energy self-sufficient. We all have the reason to dream for that because we are surrounded with renewable energy sources,” Ms. Agrupis explained.

“What we want to do is to enhance and integrate all these climate-based RDE initiative to establish an SFU, which is a systematic modality application of research and technologies in fostering appropriate results-based management for a green university,” she added as she underscored the proposal is ready to be turned-over to CCC for endorsement to funding agencies.
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