In a low-income country where education is valued for its life-changing potential, millions of Filipino families prioritize the schooling of their children. Getting into one of the country’s reputable colleges and universities is a dream come true.
Among those leading schools is Miriam College, which traces its roots to the American colonial period. An initiative of then Archbishop of Manila Michael J. O’Doherty, the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic based in upstate New York set up a teacher-training program for women in Manila in 1926. Nearly a century later, the college has grown to include one satellite campus outside the capital and boasts a long list of notable alumni.
GMI POST sat down with one of Miriam College’s most prominent graduates. A career diplomat with 37 years of experience, Laura Quiambao-Del Rosario took over the helm in 2020, bringing with her a firm belief that a global worldview, particularly from non-Filipino educators, benefits students.
“In 2015, I lectured in 20 universities all over the Philippines I think I lectured to 10,000 students. I asked them: How many of you have been taught by a foreign professor? None of them ever had a foreign professor,” Quiambao-Del Rosario recalled.
“I told them that I am what I am because of 13 foreign teachers. They were the American nuns of Maryknoll College. They gave me the American perspective of freedom, the right to express myself, critical thinking, and the value of democracy,” she added.
After two years as head of Miriam College, the retired ambassador believes that the most well-read people make the best educators.
“To be an effective teacher, you have to be exposed to all kinds of ideas and experiences. That comes only with reading. I noticed in my own experience that those who are well-read and can debate in any forum are those who teach better,” she said.
With two master’s degrees in literature and in educational administration, Quiambao-Del Rosario started her career as a teacher in literary studies and later as director of admissions in what was then Maryknoll College. As diplomat, she served as director general of the Foreign Service Institute (2009-2011) and was also assigned to the Philippine missions in Austria, Singapore, the United States, India and Vietnam.
