As Bicol Region’s leading tertiary institution, Bicol University (BU), for the past 50 years, has solidified its premier reputation by consistently implementing its core values of Scholarship, Leadership, Character, and Service in its students, teachers, staff, and community. Amid today’s changing times and growing digital landscape, the university continues to thrive through its drive for innovation with the help of a strong partnership with technology enabler Globe Business.
Like many other institutions who faced challenges that arose from the pandemic, Bicol University realized the need for more robust digital solutions to strengthen their operational capacity as they aim to keep improving and to continuously deliver quality education amidst all adversities.
“Technology brought us all together: administrators, faculty, staff, students, parents, and other stakeholders,” says Aris Ordoñez, Bicol University’s ICT director. “The pandemic held us back a little, but did not totally limit us. Technology provided us a way to continue what we have started despite the challenges of the times.”
Specifically, what helped Bicol University take its business forward were two critical Globe Business digital solutions: M360 and Zoom for Education.
M360 is a web-based, multi-channel messaging platform that allows you to send branded messages with a sender ID instead of a mobile number, which builds trust and credibility for your recipients. Top private and public universities across the country use M360 to send out important announcements to their students, faculty members, and administrators.
Bicol University used this to connect with their school community during their vaccination campaign. They also use it for internal and external communication among stakeholders to send out memos, invitations, announcements of academic meetings and activities like enrollment, upcoming school programs. These SMS blasts are completely customizable, making it easy for Bicol University to tailor fit its messaging to its audience.
Meanwhile, Zoom for Education is a popular video conferencing tool that creates better engagement among students, faculty, and staff, fostering a collaborative learning environment for everyone. It is currently being enjoyed by a handful of academes nationwide, including private schools and state universities.
Bicol University used Zoom for Education during the height of distance learning to accommodate up to 1000 attendees with a large meeting room add-on. This helped them to continue delivering quality education through online platforms and conducting meetings or events with bigger audiences.
With these tools, Ordoñez says Bicol University is now more confident to face a tech-driven future as the school continues to shape the country’s next topnotchers in various fields of academic expertise.
“Technology and digitalization has always been a part of Bicol University. We always aim to improve in this aspect, and our ultimate goal is to become an ingenious campus on top of being a world-class university,” Ordoñez adds.
Globe Business, on the other hand, will continue, through this partnership, to fulfill its mission of championing solution-based services to schools in order to restore the hope that education brings to Filipino students and their families.
“The pandemic became one of the catalysts for many institutions to discover new ways of learning, operating and collaborating through digitalization,” says KD Dizon, MSME Group Head, Globe Business. “With our digital solutions and services, we aim to support the education sector in creating a more empowered and future-proof learning environment to uplift the lives of Filipinos.”
For more details about Globe’s education initiatives, services, and offers, visit www.globe.com.ph/education. To know more about Bicol University, visit https://bicol-u.edu.ph/ or telefax: (052) 480-0167