BEGINNINGS
Naval Institute of Technology (NIT), the only state college in the province of Biliran, will be celebrating its 36th anniversary this month.
Many years back, when remnants of the war were still around, Naval was a town without a secondary school. Naval the capital of Biliran Province (formerly a sub-province of Leyte).
Amid these trying times, the need for a secondary school was felt. A municipal resolution requesting that a junior high school be established in the Municipality of Naval, was presented and approved on June 3, 1946.
Like other newly opened institutions, the school had undergone all kinds of trials — from lack of funds and buildings to an impermanent site for the school campus.
Nevertheless, a few years later, the Naval High School was converted into a state college now known as the Naval Institute of Technology through Republic Act No. 4309 in 1972.
With the mandate to bring education within the reach of students in the rural areas, NIT aims to be a globally competitive institution of higher learning imbued with positive values that will contribute to progress, with the mission to produce graduates adequately equipped with quality education, professional training, and relevant skills through instruction, research, extension services, and production.
THE PRESENT
The word Naval gives one an impression that the Institute is specializing in seafaring.
Marine Transportation and Marine Engineering are, indeed, the flagship programs and the major draw for students to enroll in the school. However, the Institute also offers an array relevant curricular programs, covering various disciplines from basic to health and applied sciences and liberal arts.
More than 30 academic programs are offered by five different colleges namely: BS in Marine Transportation and Marine Engineering, College of Maritime Education; AB in Economics and Communication Arts, BS in Biology, Criminology, Business Administration, and Nursing, College of Arts and Sciences; Bachelor in Elementary Education and Secondary Education, College of Education; BS in Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Biomedical Technology, College of Engineering; and Computer Science, Information Management, Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management and Industrial Technology, College of Technology.
NIT also offers post-graduate degrees such as Doctor of Education, Doctor in Management, Master of Education, Master of Arts in Elementary Education, Industrial Education, and Master of Arts in Teaching Filipino, English, Math, and Science.
The College of Law also brings Bachelor of Laws within the reach of students.
The satellite campus in the municipality of Biliran offers Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishery-related programs.
ACCREDITATIONS
Most of the programs are ladderized for which the Institute was awarded by Malacanang as one of the first institutions to have implemented Executive Order No. 358. Most of its programs are AACCUP accredited. The Det Norske Veritas or DNV, an international auditing body that ensures quality and standard operation, certifies its robust quality assurance mechanism and that NIT is on even keel.
NIT was also the pilot institution in Region 8 visited by the Institutional Quality Assurance Monitoring and Evaluation or IQuAME team of CHED. For ranking fifth in the 2005 Licensure Exam for Electrical Engineers, the Institute gained the respect among electrical engineering schools in the country today.
NIT has obtained Level III-A in the SUC Leveling of the DBM and CHED, a great leap which juxtaposed the Institute on the same footing with other prestigious colleges and universities in the country.
Faithful as a technological school, the Institute is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and amenities. The main-campus houses five computer laboratories and two internet cafes with access to the Internet, a speech laboratory, multimedia language system center, multimedia center, science laboratories, mock bridge for maritime students, a mock hospital and a nursing arts laboratory for nursing students, and a hostel which serves as the laboratory hotel for HRTM students.
Luxury of space affords the institute to have sports facilities such as a gymnasium, sports arenas, and a soccer field, reputed to be the most beautiful in Region 8. With the well-maintained and beautiful landscape, one would find NIT as a school that sits in the middle of a garden where technology and nature amicably coexist.
LINKAGES
At present, the Institute has established and sustained linkages and partnerships with industry sectors, here and abroad, which include Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, IOc. (SEIPI), PRICON Microelectronics Philippines, Inc., ZiLOG Electronics Philippines, Inc., Dream Search International, Inc., SERVIECON International Corporation, World Apart-One Heart, Inc., 2000 Recruitment PTE Ltd., University of Perpetual Help System, PAROLA Maritime Agency Corp., Vintes Maritime Corporation, Blue Manila, Inc., and Cebu Ceramic House to name a few. In cooperation with CHED, some BSHRTM and Engineering students undergo international on-the-job training in Singapore, Saipan, and the United States.
A number of maritime students take apprenticeship in Japan, Malaysia, and Korea through the Ventis Maritime Training Corporation and K-Line Shipping Corporation.
An interview with employers during the IQuAME visit revealed the strength of the Institute - the students.
Employers vouched for the competence of NIT graduates. They attested that NIT graduates possess the life skills, in addition, of course, to the technical know-how that one needs to succeed in the workplace. A graduate tracer study (Ariaso, D. Sr., 2008) revealed the high employability status of NIT graduates pegged at 71.3%. NIT also maintains high passing percentage in different licensure examinations for all its academic programs.
UNIVERSITY CONVERSION
The Institute is vigorously pursuing its quest for its conversion or elevation into a state university to be known as Naval State University per House Bill No. 4414 contained under Committee Report NO.752 (in substitution of House Bill No. 1927) sponsored by Congresswoman Cynthia A. Villar (Chair, Committee on Higher and Technical Education), Congressman Edcel C. Lagman (Chair, Committee on Appropriations), Congressman Exequiel B. Javier (Chair, Committee on Ways and Means), and Congressman Glenn A. Chong (Representative, Lone District of Biliran Province) and Senate Bill No. 2146 sponsored by Senator Juan Miguel F. Zubiri.
This is a priority program of the present administration in collaboration with its stakeholders, congressional and local government unit’s officials, and partner institutions. The conversion is expected to provide equal opportunity and better access to modern but affordable higher education for the student populace in Biliran Province and nearby provinces in Leyte and Samar Islands.
This will also enable the school to undertake intellectual inquiry and creation of meaningful knowledge with greater fiscal and institutional autonomy.
In the words of NIT president Dr. Edita S. Genson, "These laudable achievements are hoped to serve the present and future cause of the people of Biliran and the nation as a whole. We dedicate this to the past and future administrators, students, and other stakeholders. NIT serves and will continue to serve and lead across borders."
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