Abstract
This study focused on the research engagement of the Technology and Livelihood Education faculty within the State Universities and Colleges of Region III, Philippines, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically, Goal 4 (Quality Education) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Memorandum Orders 52, s. 2016 and 10, s. 2023. Using total enumeration sampling, all TLE faculty members for the A.Y. 2025–2026 responded to a questionnaire that gauged their research engagement, institutional support, motivation, and challenges. After checking the data for normality using the Shapiro–Wilk test, descriptive statistics and Spearman rho correlation were utilized.
Overall, research engagement was found to be low, especially in published studies, funded research, and patent and industrial design outputs. Results were more positive for conference presentations and utility models. Although support and motivation perceived at the institution were positive, research engagement was not statistically related to support, research facilities, motivation, or available funding. Barriers identified included excessive teaching loads, onerous publication, limited laboratory/ facilities, scarce funding, and knowledge gaps. To address these issues, a multi-year Strategic Research Plan was proposed to improve research across all aspects of the institution’s physical and mental infrastructure, funding, incentives, and well-being programs, fostering a research-active TLE faculty that will sustain the innovation of livelihoods and the socio-economic development of the region.
Keywords: Research Engagement, Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE), Faculty Productivity, Institutional Support, State Universities and Colleges (SUCs)
https://doi.org/10.65494/pinagpalapublishing.247
