Instruction: the series of scholastic activities conducted in a classroom setting, such as lectures, recitation, group discussion, quizzes and long exams, reports and theses, commentaries and research, dissertation and the like.

The accent is on cognitive activities intended to cultivate a broad perspective, a critical mind, and a creative imagination – general competencies we expect of persons to be able to function in society and culture with reasonable proficiency, productivity and satisfaction.

Training: the acquisition of skills through actual exercise of functions related to one’s profession or discipline.

Rather limited in the past, it is given stronger emphasis today through academe-industry linkages, on-the-job training, apprenticeship, Dual Science, capstone projects and so on. Only through anticipatory practice of what one will be engaged with in one’s profession or discipline can one also be assessed in terms of aptitude and expertise. In its distinctive Roadmap to integrating all the critical elements, USC has adopted the Research, Development, Extension and Publications (RDEP) training method to aid students in acquiring the hard skills of their trade.

Formation: the inculcation of soft skills in contrast to training in the hard skills – those grasped through instruction and achieved in the technical senses.

Authentic education, however, would be remiss if it does not also aim at forming the student into a moral person and socially-engaged citizen. Formation deals with idealized images of oneself as a responsible and conscientious moral agent, defined through life-purposes, character, values, principles and congruent behaviour manifest in life-giving relations, social compassion, cultural rootedness and so forth.

Fr. Dionisio M. Miranda, SVD
USC President
2008-2020