6. Versatile Spaces for Innovation

Upgrade learning and research facilities

Develop and implement a comprehensive land use plan for the VSU system

Provide high speed internet connectivity in the university

Establish an integrated student center and faculty lounges

Spaces are important for innovation. We would like to build upon the lessons of VSU’s visionary leaders: versatile spaces are conducive for deliberate and serendipitous encounters where great ideas brew and flow.

VSU will invest in well-planned and well-designed infrastructure that are human-centered.

This means we will improve the places not only where students learn and professors teach, but also where administrative staff work, and where scientists make new discoveries. This means we take care of the places other than work: food, leisure, accommodation, and even traffic. This means we all so consider “third places”—spaces outside of work and home in the university that engender social interaction.

Campus Development Plan

As the university continues to expand, we will make sure that the construction of new buildings and physical systems should reflect our long-time appreciation for beautiful and human-centered design.

Strategies

• Review and survey existing land use of all campuses
• Propose zones for expansion and development
• Review and revisit ViSCA's campus development blueprint
• Create an updated design blueprint for VSU buildings and landscapes for all campuses

Metrics

• Number of campuses reviewed
• Number of hectares surveyed versus total land area of VSU campuses
• Number of land use plans /master plans created
• Evaluation results of the review
• Updated campus development blueprint
• Number of satellite campuses with new design blueprint

Upgrade Learning Facilities

Learning is at the core of VSU’s mandate as a state university. For students and other constituents to maximize learning opportunities, VSU will invest in the upgrading of its learning facilities to meet global standards.

Strategies

• Convert existing lecture rooms and lecture halls to smart classrooms
• Upgrade laboratories and multimedia rooms to be compliant with relevant global standards
• Construct a Centennial Building where large classes can be accommodated
• Provide functional and conducive working areas for faculty and staff
• Furnish high-end laptop computers for each faculty and selected staff

Metrics

• Number of lecture rooms and lecture halls converted
• Number of laboratories and multimedia rooms upgraded
• Centennial Building constructed
• Number of renovated / upgraded office areas for faculty and staff
• Number of laptop computers provided to faculty and staff

Facilities for Tech Generation and Promotion

Our scientists work day in and day out to make discoveries and breakthroughs in their respective fields. For the past decades, VSU has developed technologies that have helped farmers and other stakeholders. We plan to do more by making the necessary facilities available for technology generation and promotion.

Strategies

• Improve facilities at the VSU Technology Business Incubator
• Offer VSU generated technologies for sale online
• Construct additional green/screen houses
• Establish a chemical supply storage facility
• Purchase new farm tools and machineries

Metrics

• Number of upgraded facilities
• Number of technologies featured online
• Number of technologies produced with IEC materials
• Number of existing greenhouses renovated
• Number of additional greenhouses constructed
• Chemical supply storage facility constructed
• Number of new farm tools purchased
• Number of machineries purchased

Living Spaces

VSU will make sure that apartments, duplex houses, and dormitories in the university remain livable.

Strategies

• Renovate dormitories to comply with existing building codes
• Construct additional dormitories for freshmen
• Institute an accreditation and monitoring scheme for boarding houses outside of the university
• Provide fast internet connection to all dormitories and cottages
• Develop a policy for a shared investment mechanism for staff housing
• Construct new housing units for single professionals

Metrics

• Number of dormitories renovated
• Number of additional dormitories constructed
• Number of boarding houses accredited and monitored
• Number of dormitories and cottages provided with internet
• Policy created on shared investment mechanism
• Number of housing units provided to unmarried faculty and staff

Socio-Cultural Spaces

Outside of school and work, people in the university need to keep up with other aspects of life, including opportunities for leisure and social interaction. We will make this possible by providing spaces for fun and recreation.

Strategies

• Upgrade accommodation and ecotourism facilities to be compliant to Department of Tourism (DoT) standards
• Develop sports and farm tourism sites
• Rubberize the VSU Athletic Oval
• Expand the VSU Gymnatorium
• Construct retractable canopies to cover sport’s courts
• Construct a student center with a food court, convenience stores, and office spaces for student organizations
• Construct sanitary food and dining stalls in strategic locations in the university
• Construct a Culture and Arts office with studios for visual, literary, music, dance, and performing arts to be integrated in the Student Center
• Construct a large convention center equipped with an auditorium good for 1,000-person seating capacity and with provision for parallel rooms
• Establish a museum to feature VSU’s rich history and the evolution of agriculture as a field of discipline
• Construct a one-stop visitor’s lounge for tourist guests
• Purchase a visitor’s electronic kiosk to be placed in strategic locations of the university

Metrics

• Number of upgraded accommodation facilities
• Number of upgraded ecotourism sites
• Number of sports facilities constructed
• Number of farm tourism sites developed
• Rubberized track oval constructed
• Expanded VSU Gymnatorium
• Number of retractable canopies constructed
• Student center constructed
• Number of constructed food stalls in strategic locations
• Culture and Arts office constructed
• New convention center/auditorium constructed
• New museum building constructed
• Guest lounge constructed
• Number of electronic visitor’s kiosks installed

ICT for Productivity

Internet connectivity is important for university work. The faculty and staff need access to email and online tools to communicate and collaborate faster, for the university to be globally competitive.

Strategies

• Subscribe to high speed internet plans for all VSU campuses
• Provide free internet for faculty, staff, and students within the main and satellite campuses
• Provide backbone fiber optic networks between all buildings in each campus in the university system
• Request telco providers to provide the latest cellular coverage to all campuses

Metrics

• Presence of high speed internet
• Free internet to faculty, staff and students in strategic locations
• Fiber optic network to interconnect the whole university to UCC
• Increased coverage of mobile signal within the campus

Auxiliary Services

Providing efficient auxiliary services and support infrastructure is very important in the operations of a world class university.

Strategies

• Purchase a new power generator to energize the whole campus
• Improve power transmission
• Construct a solar farm within the VSU Main Campus as a sustainable source of electricity
• Install solar-powered street lights
• Develop a new potable water source to meet increasing demand in the campus
• Improve drainage systems to avoid flooding in VSU campuses
• Purchase air-conditioned university bus
• Purchase new diesel-based vehicles to replace old units
• Purchase biocars as transport loop vehicle within the VSU campus
• Purchase a new fire truck
• Purchase security cameras (CCTVs) in strategic locations within the campus

Metrics

• Power generator purchased
• Power transmission purchased
• Number of solar panels installed
• Number of solar-powered street lights installed
• New water source
• Improved drainage systems
• Improved drainage systems
• Number of new diesel-based vehicles purchased
• Number of biocars purchased
• New fire truck purchased
• Number of CCTVs installed

Waste Management

The university will make sure that as work continues in the university, the waste produced are disposed with care for the environment.

Strategies

• Establish a material recovery facility (MRF) for all VSU campuses
• Secure Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) for all MRFs
• Modify all laboratory drainage systems
• Enforce proper solid waste segregation in all units in the university
• Schedule regular collection and proper disposal of septic tank waste
• Establish a waste water treatment facility
• Purchase garbage trucks for waste collection in campus

Metrics

• Number of MRFs installed
• Environmental Compliance Certificate
• Number of lab drainage systems constructed
• Solid waste management policy
• Number of trash bins provided in strategic locations
• Collection schedule
• Constructed waste water treatment facility
• Garbage truck purchased

Traffic Management

During the construction of ViSCA’s campus in the 1970s, then college president Fernando A. Bernardo meant for it to be largely a pedestrian campus. Decades later, the transportation needs of the people in the university have changed. We will make sure the streets in VSU will be future-proof the next few decades.

Strategies

• Develop a functional and efficient transport loop system for PUVs and other vehicles within the university
• Implement a new street design and traffic system, friendly to pedestrians, commuters, and car owners alike, compliant to the Global Street Design Guide
• Coordinate with local government to establish specialized traffic policies in and around VSU
• Evaluate the need for pedestrian and vehicle overpass structures
• Establish additional parking spaces for vehicles
• Allocate bike lanes in major road networks of VSU

Metrics

• Transport loop plan
• Number of vehicles purchased for the transport loop
• Traffic system plan
• Traffic policy
• Feasibility study for pedestrian and vehicle overpass
• Number of parking spaces constructed
• Number of bike lanes constructed

Health Service Facilities

The university will make sure that its constituents are healthy by making medical facilities available and accessible to everyone.

Strategies

• Establish a hospital pharmacy
• Purchase a state-of-the-art ambulance
• Construct building expansions for out-patient department (OPD) and other necessary facilities
• Provide necessary dental facilities
• Purchase basic emergency room equipment
• Conduct feasibility study for the construction of a new hospital building
• Purchase a mobile hospital clinic that can service both the main and satellite campuses

Metrics

• Hospital pharmacy established
• Ambulance purchased
• Infirmary annex building constructed
• Number of dental facilities purchased
• Number of emergency room equipment purchased
• Feasibility study for a level 1 hospital building
• Mobile hospital clinic purchased