During the 1355th UP Board of Regents meeting on 29 October 2020, the proposal for the ascent of the Institute of Agricultural Engineering to the Institute of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering has been approved as well as the renaming of the departments under the institute: Agricultural, Food and Bioprocess Engineering Division (formerly ABPROD); Agribiosystems Machinery and Power Engineering Division (formerly AMD); Agrometeorology, Bio-Structures and Environment Engineering Division (formerly AFSD); and Land and Water Resources Engineering Division (formerly LWRD).
The Institute of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering is known to be one of the leading Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering academic institution in the country; moreover, BSABE program was awarded by the Commission on Higher Education as a Center of Excellence (COE) on its field. For years, it has been training and shaping the minds of its undergraduate and graduate students and has been contributing to the university’s output in research and extension, as well as in international and local publications.
The ascent of IAE to IABE aims to better reflect the changes in the current 4-year BSABE curriculum, broaden the interdisciplinary nature of its RD&E activities, and embody its role as a leading academic and research institution in advancing the fields of ABE. (Mary Jane F. Gallardo)