Southeast Asia Interdisciplinary Development Institute
The Southeast Asia Interdisciplinary Development Institute School of Organization Development (also known as the SAIDI School of OD or SAIDI) is a graduate school in Antipolo, Rizal Province, Philippines. SAIDI is one of only few graduate institutions in the country to offer distance learning programs for working professionals. As of 2008, SAIDI offers academic programs in business, education, information technology, and language. The graduate school maintains an international faculty and admits students from different countries around the world. History. In 1965, the Summer Educational Media Institute (SEMI) opened as a specialized program in educational media  and technology for educators all over the Philippines. Masteral and doctoral students of the Ateneo de Manila University, the University of Santo Tomas, and Philippine Christian University became the first learners of educational media and technology at SEMI. In 1972, Sr. Jacqueline E. Blondin, MIC, Founding Director of SEMI, decided to shift SEMI's thrust from education to organization development. In the proposed program, the systems theory, which is used as a founding principle of instruction development, was adapted and applied to organizations. In September 1975, SAIDI School of OD began accepting students from Southeast Asia and offered two master 's programs following the "Open Learning Philosophy" using mixed media of print modules, oral instruction, and electronic technology. In 1976, the Ministry of Education encouraged SAIDI to offer a postgraduate degree program in education. For the first eight years of operation, SAIDI was located in Arzobispo, Real, and General Luna Streets in Intramuros, Manila. In June 1983, the school moved to Antipolo in the province of Rizal. Student population. From 1978 to 2004, SAIDI enrollees amounted to 572, broken down as follows: 35 enrollees in 2004; 282 from 1994 to 2003; and 255 from 1978 to 1993. Currently, there are  324 Ph.D. students, 81 MA/Ph.D. combined students, and 167 MA students. Academic programs. SAIDI offers the following graduate degree programs: Open learning. SAIDI uses "open learning" through "research" modules. Each module is a complete course in itself. The process is mainly acquisitional, experiential, exploratory and application. A mentoring program assigns a mentor to each learner and guides him to action research. Electronic technology facilitates communications between parties. An open calendar policy allows a learner to begin at any given time. The learner is expected, in his own field of interest, to apply the concepts learned, evaluate this experience, and  report the results. He is required to make a deliberate and organized search for information. The module mentor sees to it that the learner perform up to a certain level of performance to receive the grade of "Completed".