Every year, for seven years now, Universitas gathers university students and prominent individuals to participate in the Universitas Student Conference (USC). Held in Kapuluan, the three-day USC offers an arena where talks and lectures on diverse issues could be made.
Previous USC themes
- 2003: “Living a Balanced Life: How to be a Well-Rounded Student”
- 2004: “Are Values Still in Vogue?”
- 2005: “Media and the Youth for Rebuilding the Nation”
- 2006: “The Art of Work: Secrets of Highly Effective Professionals”
- 2007: “Gear Up: Excellence in the University and Beyond”
- 2008: “Transcend: The Science and Art of Success”
On the first day, there were two speakers: Mr. Isidro Sobrecarey and Dr. Lito Sandejas.
Mr. Sobrecarey spoke about corporate life and personal values. He stressed that "there is no pretension in leadership. You are a leader, day-in, day-out, wherever you are." He has a curious way of knowing the character of a leader. "You can judge a leader by the way he treats his house help," he said, "If he treats them badly, you're sure he also treats his employees the same way."
Dr. Sandejas, on the other hand, gave a lecture on the seven basic habits of a successful professional. The first of the seven habits is jumping out of bed the moment the alarm clock rings."This is the first battle of the day," Dr. Sandejas said, "Winning carries over into rest of the day; losing also."
The second habit is faithfulness to responsibilities, family and fellowmen, because adherence to this trait is "reflective of a person's attitude to others." The third habit is maintaining a good emotional bank account, which he said facilitates “one's ability to lead, persuade, and guide."
The fourth habit, meanwhile, is to be a lifelong learner. "Although you are acknowledged to be high performers, there is always room for improvement." The fifth habit, moreover, is being more proactive than reactive. Dr. Sandejas said it is more important for a leader to take the initiative to plan, but not to be overly aggressive.
Dr. Sandejas' sixth habit of effective leadership is to gain the act of self-examination. "It is harder to get lost if we examine ourselves regularly," he said, "An unexamined life is not worth living." The seventh habit, lastly, is to train oneself to be physically and spiritually fit. "The need to be physically fit is more obvious than the need to be spiritually fit," Dr. Sandejas said, "but the need to be spiritually fit is more important, for peace and joy."
On the second day, Dr. Bernardo Villegas, a renowned economist, TOYM Awardee and among the 1987 Constitution framers, gave forecasts on the financial crisis gripping the world economy. He cited two events in the history of economics that shook the world: the Black Thursday of the 1930 Great Depression and the very fresh Black Monday of 2008 when Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. Contrasting the two events and generally concluding that the present financial crisis is more manageable than the latter, Dr. Villegas hinted that the present world economy is now more progressive and has learned from past crises.
In synthesis, Dr. Villegas said that the tasks he proposed to help solve the economic crisis cannot be done overnight, rather, they are tasks that must be shared and pursued by many inspired young men, a generation that would see the problem, make a solution, and foremost, produce results. This is the task of young student leaders.
Two speakers took the podium on the last day of the USC: Mr. Vicente Villegas, a retired executive of Procter and Gamble, and Mr. Manny Palomo, Marketing Manager of Nokia-Siemens Networks Philippines.
Mr. Villegas focused on encouraging the students to practice virtues all the time. “Practice! Practice! Practice!,” he said. He shared Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hour practice rule. He was quick to respond to the cynical approach to such a tedious task by saying that, "the tendency is that the time of practice may get boring and a person may let up on his work. Sometimes a person may need motivators or extraordinary opportunities for progressing."
Mr. Palomo ended the USC with a fun and informative lecture about the upcoming trends in telecommunications. This session was more scientific in nature. Nevertheless, the information given proved that the advancement of man never ceases, and that progress should always take into account human development.
Certainly, we need people who think, speak, and lead to guide society through various crises with their virtues.
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