RCC management responded immediately to the suggestions. A new perspective of higher education functions for the faculty was articulated operationally and creatively defining how the trilogy of higher education functions would be implemented. The school further expanded its linkages and functional network with fifteen (15) non-government agencies, nine (9) government agencies, eight (8) professional organizations, and nine (9) educational institutions both local and foreign. Among the areas of concern were research collaboration and faculty and student's development. The year 1997 will go down in the history of URC as one of the crucial milestones in its quest for educational distinction. On October 24, 1997, it was the turn of CHED Commissioners Esther Garcia and Kate Botengan to visit the school. The commissioners expressed appreciation of the dramatic physical improvements the college has instituted. Moreover, they expressed that the primary intention of their visit was to look into the research activities of the institution. The management also presented the new framework of research as well as the types of researches the RDEO has conducted in the last five years.