At last, after almost two years of disruption and uncertainty, education leaders are now grappling with a question: what are the pandemic-driven lessons we can get to better the university experience in this new normal?

Now that everyone is slowly going back to their businesses, the biggest challenge for the decision-makers [especially the private schools] is how to remain relevant and present — to their students, their faculty, and to their administrators.

At the beginning of 2020, the world was cluelessly tossed upside down by the global pandemic. In between those trial-and-error-exit plans toward industry reopenings, undeniably, the education sector is one of the most badly affected. When everyone was forced to move off-campus overnight, the experience varied widely. Some students thrived in the online classes, while some weren’t privileged enough to do so. Some colleges performed well in a matter of days, while some had to cut resources, and took them a while to implement an effective contingency plan.

“It’s been a rough adjustment! We had to do many different compromises to make it work, but, we are here, we are slowly getting back to our feet,” says Alden Salazar, president of Salazar Colleges of Science and Institute Technology (SCSIT).

The SCSIT is a Cebu-based college institution offering K-12, TESDA courses, and higher education offerings such as Education, Civil/Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Hospitality Management, Business Administration, Criminology, Maritime, and Nursing. However, just like any other institution, it also suffered unexpected revenue shortfalls and struggled to operate during the pandemic.

Being in the industry for almost 39 years, that was the first time that the institution experienced such a crisis. When the founder, the late Engr. Doroteo Monte de Ramos Salazar started the institution in 1983 from merely being a small-time engineering review center to becoming a well-known campus, it went through lots of operational challenges already. But as admitted by President Salazar, the eldest son of late Engr. Doroteo Salazar who took over the management in 2017, their experiences during the pandemic were different. So he had to bring to the table a different kind of resourcefulness to offer solutions.

“During the pandemic, you don’t just get to wear one hat. You wear multiple hats. You became the driver, the carpenter, the registrar, the admission office…”, says President Salazar as he recalled how their institution managed the losses they had in recent years.

“It was very easy to close, but the school had close, many students will suffer and be robbed of the opportunity to learn. More than that, the faculties and the manpower working behind will lose their income to support their families,” he added.

President Salazar emphasized as well that the SCSIT is more than just a family business for him, it’s a legacy of their late father committed to helping deserving students realize their dreams. Moreover, during the interview with the ASUS team, President Salazar willingly shared three important lessons they had from the many pressing changes during the pandemic.

When employees from Salazar College of Science and Institute Technology (SCSIT) were sent home on March 16, 2020, most thought they’d be back in the classrooms soon. But that didn’t happen. The weeks of waiting became months, and the management realized they cannot afford to wait for more months to operate again. Many employees had a hard time working remotely. They were a bit lost in their function and so as a leader, President Salazar had to think of ways to improve their communication within and outside their group. They maximized the social media platforms to reach one another and deliver lessons to their students. Some weren’t fully equipped with digital tools and so training for faculties was implemented for them to create lesson plans online.

“It’s hard to play basketball if not all the members are on the same page. It’s like when you row a boat, you all have to row in the same direction otherwise, you won’t get the efficiency that you want,” says President Salazar. Although, it was heartbreaking that due to limited income during the pandemic, Salazar only managed to maintain 85 out of 400 employees of SCSIT. For President Salazar, as a manager, it was a juggling act of priorities in managing the resources because pre-pandemic, they had three to four thousand students but suddenly got 800 enrollees in 2021.

With digital versus face-to-face classes, students mostly, of course, preferred the latter. However, with nationwide community quarantine and physical distancing protocol, they had no other option but to resort to online classes. Online platforms became a temporary classroom for the students where teachers can host discussions, announcements, examinations, and assignment submissions.

The SCSIT closely monitored the students to ensure the quality of learnings they received. The management also constructed intervention steps to ensure the flexibility of the new learning system.

Technology becomes a critical part of the new normal learning system for both students and faculty. All of a sudden, we all entered a new digital world where not all faculties were oriented and not everyone had access. President Salazar recalled asking for donations to his linkages to provide old computers for SCSIT so that teachers can deliver discussions to their classes.

Their old science laboratory was transformed into a computer laboratory wherein teachers conduct their online discussions. They called it the ‘war room’. They lined up 25 computers there and alternately, teachers used them for sessions. Sometimes, they had to provide also mobile loads for teachers so they can use their mobile phones.

“You will see them [teachers] roaming around, stretching their hands high to look for stronger signal connections,” says President Salazar jokingly.

As students and faculties of SCSIT start to ready themselves in getting back to school this August, President Salazar is also looking forward to a new partnership with ASUS. Given that most of the teaching and non-teaching staff can hardly afford their own laptop, desktop, or even quality cell phones, purchasing ASUS products would greatly help the students and staff to become more effective and competitive. Based on ASUS Philippines’ recommendation, SCSIT bought an ASUS Expertbook B7 Flip and Zenbook UX482 notebook for the admins and plans to equip their admins and faculty with more ASUS ExpertBook notebooks for a more seamless transition to the digital age. Installed with the new Windows 11 Pro, they ASUS units can help them improve their focus with a simpler, more intuitive experience and effortless navigation. Faculties can get things done with fewer clicks and swipes using the refreshed Start, Taskbar, and Navigation Center. They can multitask now across their PC and online without switching between browser, tabs, and folders, and get quick access to their most recent documents.

From the centered Start and clean layout to fresh icons, wallpaper, and sounds, the new Windows will make their tasks easier. Windows 11 Pro is also the most secure Windows yet, delivering powerful built-in security including hardware isolation, encryption, and malware protection.

“Investing in technology in your early [business] is a gamble but you can surely reap the harvest later on,” says President Salazar. “Our next thing is to make them [students] ready for our global stage, and through our partnership with ASUS’ technologies, it will happen. I trust the expert, and so we are choosing ASUS.”