Southville International School and Colleges (SISC) is recognized by Republic Act 9493 as an academic institution of “international character,” and designated by the Department of Education as a “school of the future.” Its Basic Education Program is internationally accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, USA while its College Programs passed Level 3 of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (PACUCOA). Only in its 16th year of existence, the College Division was granted by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Autonomous Status to make it the youngest higher education institution in the country to receive the said recognition.
STUDENT AND ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENTS
As an international school, SISC originally started as a “Special School for the Mentally Gifted” with several of its graduates earning honors from top world-ranked universities such as the Imperial College of London, London School of Economics, Seattle University, United States Military Academy at West Point, Yale University and Georgia Institute of Technology, among others.
It has produced several topnotchers in the Nursing and Education Licensure Exams through the years while recording a 100% passing rate. The school’s performance in the Accountancy Board Exam is four times higher than the national passing rate while also registering a 100% passing rate. Its undergraduate Psychology program scored above the national passing rate in the Psychologist Licensure Exam while the graduate level debuted at a 100% passing rate.
The school has been producing global achievers since its birth – Gen Mark Tanno, a software engineer intern in Facebook, currently a software engineer at Microsoft USA; Mark Gonzales, the Lead Test Vision Processor for Mars 2020 – Rover:Perseverance; Abby Arevalo, Gold Medalist at the 2019 SEA Games Women’s Golf (Team Event); Gwyneth Margaux Gutierrez-Tangog, Philippine’s youngest Japan Math Certification Passer , and Miguel Alzona, Top Filipino Scholar at the 2018 World Scholar’s Cup in Yale University among many others.
Southville’s Best Practices in Distance Learning and Flexible Learning
The Southville Virtual Online Learning and Teaching (VOLT) Program
Southville International School and Colleges (SISC) is one of the most prepared institutions in the Philippines for digital learning having continually used online learning tools and introduced various online learning programs since 2010. The Southville Virtual Online Learning and Teaching (VOLT) Program was fully implemented in 2020, a combination of the institution’s existing digital expertise and adoption of the US-based International Standards for Quality Online Teaching. The international standards led to the creation of the VOLT standards which were evaluated for effectiveness. At present time, Southville is conducting HYVOLT, a combination of limited face-to-face classes and virtual classes.
(Suggesting to list down all our online programs here until present time.)
Following the Quest for Excellence given by the Global Performance Excellence Program (GPEA), Southville’s Virtual Online Learning and Teaching (VOLT) program has been awarded platinum by the APQO International Best Practice (AIBP) during its conference in Australia in 2021. The AIBP is under the Asia Pacific Quality Organization (APQO) which encourages and recognizes quality professionals and organizations, domiciled in the Asia Pacific region primarily in New Zealand, bringing together professional quality organizations that border on the Pacific Ocean (source: apqo.global). Southville met the Platinum Award requirements having exemplified VOLT’s relevance, performance standards, and positive business impact in the pandemic.
The VOLT and HYVOLT Programs provide students with a meaningful, rigorous, and relevant virtual online education anchored on international standards and supported by heavy investments in technological infrastructure and the professional development of faculty and staff. The use of analytics is in place to ensure and monitor student engagement through (1) Students logging in, (2) Student engagement in peer-learning through discussion forums, and (3) Student progress through formative assessments in MOODLE. The recent VOLT Performance Evaluation Survey reported Increased Quality of Course Designs, Faculty Competence in Sustaining Quality Delivery of Lessons from Face-to-Face to Virtual Online, and Student’s Satisfaction from Initial Implementation to Current Performance. Southville students both maintained their current academic ranking and even graduated with honors. This shows how students and teachers retained a strong bond to what is now called a virtual classroom amid its gradual and safe return to campus.
Early this year, WASC, USA assessors congratulated the entire Southville Community on the use of VOLT. They cited that while the school management team organized the program, it is the widespread use of technology from the learners to the parents and to the staff that is highly successful and impressive. The WASC assessors affirmed Southville VOLT online delivery as world class.
In addition, the ISO 9001:2015 certifying body commended “the efforts of the teachers in handling VOLT online classes in the face of the various challenges of the students.”
The Investors in People cited the “the success of VOLT, and how Southville created an amazing story in developing VOLT and making it work. It made everyone work together, especially the IT team, faculty, admin and the school leaders.”
Southville’s long history of online education has allowed us to leverage that expertise to meet the digital education challenges posed by COVID-19. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, Southville has stayed committed to its core values, the 5Cs – Character, Competence, Commitment to Achieve, Collaboration, and Creativity.
