A Bulacan Agricultural State College (BASC) delegation led by Mr. Rael Tejada, BASC research office director and Federated Graduate Studies Student Association president, visited SEARCA on 13 April 2023
The Bulacan Agricultural State College (BASC) conducted its Lakbay Aral for Graduate Students at the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) on 13 April 2023.
The activity aims to expand the graduate students’ knowledge and information on Southeast Asian research outputs related to agricultural and rural development.
Dr. Nur Azura Binti Adam, SEARCA deputy director for programs, welcomed the participants and highlighted the importance of disseminating the agricultural research and experimentation findings.
“I am happy that we are one with our goal of making agriculture and farming sexy,” said Dr. Nur. “With this benchmarking activity, SEARCA hopes to inspire BASC to do more, be better, and contribute to bringing technological changes in agriculture through research that is very much aligned with our eleventh five-year plan of Accelerating Transformation Through Agricultural Innovation or ATTAIN,” she added.
Mr. Rael Tejada, BASC research office director and Federated Graduate Studies Student Association president, expressed his appreciation to SEARCA for the warm welcome to their faculty members and graduate students.
“On behalf of Dr. Jameson Tan, our university president, we are thankful for accommodating us here today,” shared Mr. Tejada. “BASC looks forward to learning not only from the best research practices of SEARCA in the region but also in participating to research grants, scholarships, and other international opportunities,” he added.
The benchmarking activity comprised presentations of SEARCA core programs on its research undertakings and a tour around the SEARCA Hub for Agriculture and Rural Innovation for the Next Generation (SHARING) facilities that houses various agriculture products and innovations in Southeast Asia. SEARCA also donated knowledge products and encouraged the graduate students to submit their research works and publish them in the Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development (AJAD), the Center’s international refereed journal.
BASC is a higher educational institution in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. It offers both undergraduate and graduate programs in agriculture and is recognized as a Level III college based on the Association of Accrediting Chartered Colleges and Universities of the Philippines (AACCUP). In March 2021, SEARCA and BASC signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to engage students and faculty members in agriculture research and extension activities.