Melisa R. Serrano, PhD envisions the UP Diliman (UPD) School of Labor and Industrial Relations (SOLAIR) as a center of excellence in labor and industrial relations in the Philippines and abroad, a prominent institution that actively promotes democratization and humanization of work, and a highly regarded center for labor education and worker empowerment in the country and in Asia.
Serrano shared this recently with UPDate Online. She is SOLAIR’s ninth dean and will serve for three years.
For her term as SOLAIR dean from 2023 to 2025, Serrano has a 10-point agenda.
Top on her list is the reactivation of institutionalizing the proposed Doctor of Philosophy in Employment Relations and Labor Studies program. She is also pushing for the review of SOLAIR’s Diploma in Industrial Relations and the Master of Industrial Relations programs, in light of the rapid changes profoundly affecting the world of work and challenging existing theories and practices in industrial relations.
Serrano would also like to work on the institutionalization of an elective course on labor rights for the undergraduate curriculum.
To fulfill the vision of SOLAIR as a center of excellence in labor education in the Philippines and in Asia, the new dean initiated and rolled out early this year the ENGAGE-Asia Programme.
The ENGAGE-Asia Programme is a four-month non-degree blended training program jointly developed by SOLAIR and Global Labour University (GLU). GLU is an international network of universities in Germany, USA, South Africa, India, and Brazil; the International Labour Organization; global union federations; and international trade union support organizations.
The program’s first phase was held online from March 9 to June 23. Twenty-four trade unionist-labor rights defenders from Asia-Pacific countries attended the program. It aimed to improve the knowledge of the trade unionists and provide them with tools to take an active part in public debate, policy formulation, and implementation in areas and issues of labor and employment.
The second part or the in-person phase is scheduled from June 28 to July 25 at the SOLAIR auditorium.
Serrano plans to beef up the school’s faculty ranks by hiring those with PhD in labor and industrial relations. She also aims to strengthen and elevate the school’s research capacity by fostering and tapping resources for collaborative research with academics, research institutions, and organizations in the same discipline here and abroad, and encourage them to present their work in national and international conferences.
Serrano also plans to strengthen SOLAIR’s international linkages by pursuing academic exchanges and cooperation with universities and other academic and research institutions abroad. She said the GLU network universities could be further tapped for these academic endeavors.
Apart from these, she plans for a more vigorous engagement with government agencies, legislators, trade unions and other workers’ organizations in the area of policy formulation, collaborative research, and education and training.
Serrano is also encouraging and providing access to training and development to all SOLAIR personnel. She believes that research, extension, and professional staff or REPS and administrative staff play important roles in the school’s effective delivery of its academic and extension programs.
For a more improved and timely delivery of services, Serrano intends to automate and digitize the school’s various administrative processes.
Serrano officially took her oath of office before UPD Chancellor Edgardo Carlo L. Vistan II at the UPD Office of the Chancellor on June 6. It was witnessed by the SOLAIR executive board: Emily Christi A. Cabegin, PhD (college secretary); Rosalio A. Aragon Jr. (officer-in-charge of the Graduate School Program); Virgel C. Binghay, PhD (director of the Center for Industry, Productivity, and Competitiveness); and Benjamin B. Velasco, (director of the Center for Labor and Grassroots Initiatives). Serrano concurrently serves as director of the Center for Labor Justice. Also present at the event were Professor Emeritus Rene E. Ofreneo; former UP vice president for administration Maragtas SV Amante, PhD; and some members of the SOLAIR community.
