The Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) is advancing its high-quality accreditation process for the Master’s Degree in Microbiology through an external evaluation visit by academic peers appointed by Colombia’s National Accreditation Council (CNA). This stage provides an opportunity to present the program’s achievements, academic and research strengths, and ongoing efforts to ensure continuous improvement.
The visit is being conducted by Nadenka Beatriz Melo Brito, serving as the coordinating peer evaluator, and Alba Manuela Durango Villadiego, academic peer evaluator. Their work focuses on assessing the program’s quality conditions and gaining first-hand knowledge of its academic, research, administrative, and comprehensive training processes.
For the School of Microbiology, this process represents a significant milestone, as it is the first time the Master’s Degree has applied for high-quality accreditation. Mayra Alejandra Machuca Pérez, Director of the School of Microbiology, highlighted the importance of this external evaluation as an opportunity to showcase the work carried out by the academic community.
“Today marks the beginning of the external evaluation process as part of the application for high-quality accreditation for the Master’s Degree in Microbiology. For Universidad Industrial de Santander, this is a very important stage in which we have the opportunity to present all the activities we carry out across our core institutional missions to ensure the high-quality development of the program that characterizes our university,” she stated.
A track record of academic training and research since 2015
Since its establishment in 2015, the Master’s Degree in Microbiology has welcomed nine cohorts and graduated 37 students. During the 2026-2 academic semester, the program has 20 enrolled students who participate in different research groups and carry out their academic and scientific activities in laboratories and research facilities across the University.
Mauricio Ramírez Castrillón, Postgraduate Coordinator of the School of Microbiology, explained that the visit will allow the program to demonstrate its progress and the institutional efforts made to strengthen its processes.
“We hope to show our peer evaluators all the progress the Master’s Degree has made and how the program is working on quality management across all its processes. This includes the current situation of our students, faculty members, infrastructure, and all the comprehensive training services available at the University,” he explained.
An evaluation process that drives continuous improvement
In addition to presenting its achievements, the self-evaluation process enabled professors, students, and other members of the academic community to reflect collectively on the program’s strengths and opportunities for improvement. This exercise resulted in an improvement plan scheduled to run through the second semester of 2031.
José Arturo Gutiérrez Triana, professor at the School of Microbiology, highlighted the importance of this collective exercise in identifying opportunities to strengthen the program.
“This process has been very interesting and important because it has given the Master’s Degree in Microbiology community the opportunity to reflect collectively on the program’s strengths, areas for improvement, and potential weaknesses. Through this process, we have identified that our program has many strengths, but also areas that need improvement. This has led to an improvement plan that has already begun and will conclude in the second semester of 2031,” he stated.
The professor also emphasized the relevance of the academic training offered by the program and its contribution to regional and national development: “We want to demonstrate the quality of our program and show that it is undoubtedly relevant to the region and the country.”
Through this external evaluation, UIS continues to strengthen its quality assurance processes and postgraduate academic offerings. These assessment exercises provide an opportunity to recognize achievements, identify areas for improvement, and establish new goals for the University’s academic programs.
