3rd Asian Conference on Multidisciplinary Research in
Higher Education (ACMRHE 2015): A Synthesis
Dr. David Cababaro Bueno
Columban College, Inc.
Olongapo City
Philippines
Higher Education Institution (HEI) is the pathway to the empowerment of people and
the development of nations. Knowledge generation has replaced ownership of capital assets and
labor productivity as the source of growth and prosperity. Innovation is seen as the melody for
development. This realization is pervasive that nations are scrambling to create institutions and
organizations that would facilitate the process of knowledge creation. Knowledge creation requires a
network of scholars actively engaged in its pursuit because the search for the unknown is a product
of engaged minds, and constantly challenging the known in an enabling environment. The modern
university is the ideal space for the ecosystem of scholars to search for new ideas in a spirit of free
inquiry. In human history, the HEI has been one of the prodigious institutions that has emerged and
endured. Its structure; however, has changed over the centuries. The primacy of research over
teaching was solidified as evidenced by the research productivity within the university, with the quest
for knowledge as an ongoing enterprise. The discernable aspect of the modern university was the
provision of substantial funding to support research. The modern research university has also
encouraged deep specializations structured around disciplines. Dividing knowledge into disciplines
and fields provides depth of understanding in an increasingly complex world. However, a growing
understanding has appeared that the problems of the 21st century require a holistic understanding of
knowledge in various aspects. New knowledge materializes at the boundaries of existing disciplines;
and cross-fertilization of disciplinary understanding occurs in numerous ways. The necessity to relate
research to the needs of society has also emerged as a dominant paradigm of the policy discourse in
higher education (Sibal, 2011).
Thus, world-class research universities are essential in developing a nation’s competitiveness
in the global knowledge economy. These universities, at the pinnacle of the higher education
hierarchy, play key roles in creating and disseminating knowledge, educating a highly skilled
workforce for technological and intellectual leadership, and serving the needs of society (Altbach,
2009; Van der Wende, 2009).
In the past few years, it can be argued that an increasing number of countries, regions and
higher education institutions in different parts of the world have joined the same battle for academic
excellence. This trend to create and enhance globally competitive universities can be traced not only
in developed countries but also in developing ones. While emerging countries and their universities
make every effort to enhance their capacity and to boost their research performance, the academic
superpowers endeavor to maintain, if not further improve their global positions.
The theme of the 3rd Asian Conference on Multidisciplinary Research in Higher
Education (ACMRHE 2015) was “Research for Universities and Colleges to Achieve World Ranking
Status”. The objectives were to determine policies, programs and best practices for universities and
colleges to achieve world ranking status; to provide a forum for professional and student researchers
across the world as means for dissemination and utilization of high impact and insightful researches;
to nourish collaborations among researchers and institutions in the promotion and production of
researches; to recognize meritorious contributions of researchers and institutions; and to promote
quality research publications as credible sources of scientific literature. The higher education
institution administrators, research directors, research enthusiasts, faculty and researcher-presenters
knew clearly the path towards achieving world ranking status of colleges and universities as well as
the latest discoveries in research by forging collaborations with researcher institutions abroad.
A number of papers were focused on Education, such as academic, financial and
psychological factors affecting maritime graduates, internalization of college core values among
stakeholders, predictive academic regulation and emotion on academic resiliency, organizational
climate as a correlate of lifelong service of teachers, the rhetoric appeals of marketing
communications for operations initiatives, student’s satisfaction towards library services,
implementation of Anti-sexual Harassment Act in school, 21st century instructional leadership skills
vis-à-vis school culture, school climate and performance of elementary schools, student learning
outcomes in professional courses in HRM program, and cruise line services qualities preferred by
the shipping industry in maritime education.
Sociolinguistics, language anxiety and mother tongue were likewise presented and discussed
relative to gender differences, MT-BL of instruction in learning English grammar, Sinurigao:
Morphology, Syntax, Phenology, Semantic, and English language anxiety in relation to productive
competency of agriculture students in the Philippines.
Social sciences and management in the light of cognitive and political maturity, coping and
emotion-focused outcomes, constitutional history and political dynamics, teenage fathers stories,
experiences on religious depiction of Lenten season, experiencing Hajj, stress and social support,
child abuse and child protection laws, politics and deviant workplace behavior, archeological
findings and waste characterization and quantification, employee’s in-role and extra-job performance
towards affective commitment and trust, competition laws among the ASEAN countries, and
organizational fairness and performance among employees were also talked about.
On the area of food science and technology, various research enthusiasts focused on the
study of anthocyanins in Bignay Berries, fermentation of fish viscera to fish sauce, enhancement of
agar yield, development of multi-system automotive engine, and combined mechanical and hydraulic
valve spring compressor.
Lastly, a single paper on the Silva’s management competency theory: a classical factor-item
analytic approach utilizing oblique rotation direct oblimin method was also unveiled.
CONGRATULATIONS!