Set to audit twice a year, 30 University Internal Quality Assurance (IQA) auditors conducted their first audit for this fiscal year 2021. Thirty (30) University IQA auditors first conducted the audit in the North La Union Campus (NLUC); National Apiculture Research, Training, and Development Institute (NARTDI); Sericulture Research and Development Institute (SRDI); and the Central Administration all located at Bacnotan, La Union on April 27 to 30, 2021. They also visited the South La Union Campus (SLUC) on May 10, 11, and 14, and the Mid La Union Campus (MLUC) and the Open University System (OUS) on May 18, 20, and 21.

Engr. Reynaldo M. Lilan, Jr. served as the Lead Auditor at Bacnotan, Prof. Anny Ross A. Bayan at SLUC, and Dr. Raymund Dilan at MLUC and OUS. During the audits, each auditor was assigned an area, department, or process, to audit.

Audit objectives were as follows: 1) to determine the extent of implementation of the University quality management system and its compliance to ISO 9001:2015 and other statutory and regulatory requirements, 2) to determine the level of compliance to the 2020 initial certification OFIs by the Certifying Body, and 3) to ensure QMS continuous improvement. Audit scope include instruction, research, extension, and support services.

As part of the opening meeting during the first day of audit, auditors were introduced to the auditee, and briefing on the expected scope of the audit and auditors’ brief meeting with the lead auditor were also conducted. Audit was conducted during the first day until the second day. The third day was devoted for auditors’ preparation of reports and closing meeting where audit teamwork results and audit team conclusion and recommendations were presented.

When asked about his thoughts about the audit, Mr. Billy Fabro, one of the auditors remarked on the improvement he has observed in the conduct of audit:

“This improvement begins from realization to compliance. Looking back, it was really hard to conduct internal audit but as we journey through this, we realize how important it is to embrace the processes in delivering quality services to our clients. With this full realization of its importance, process owners and DMMMSU personnel patiently organized documents following ISO standards. That’s where we can see changes—both in documents and the commitment of process owners.”

Dr. Dilan, Lead Auditor, also shared his thoughts: “I think the auditors have become more knowledgeable about the audit process and have become more systematic, too. With the 2 days added in our schedule, our auditing has become more comprehensive and we have more time to prepare our audit reports.”

“As for the auditees,” he continued, “they are more prepared this time. They now have lesser number of nonconformance and opportunities for improvement, and they seem to be more familiar with the SOPs.”

DMMMSU IQA auditors conduct 2 audits every year; however, they also conduct special audits.