THE EMBASSY of the United Kingdom in the Philippines will formally accept Filipino students coming from Saint Louis University to undergo a degree study program on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management.
In his visit to the city during the starting leg of the British Festival, UK Ambassador to the Philippines Daniel Pruce under the British Council explained this operational alliance agreement with the Commission on Higher Education is collaborative effort of both countries to invest in education following international standard policies and guidelines on transnational higher education (TNE).
"SLU is a fantastic, engaged cohesive university to which when my colleagues in the British Council initiated the plans for TNE, saw the anxiousness of the university to undergo with this educational collaboration focusing on DRRM," said the Ambassador.
Among others, the British Council-CHED collaboration on TNE have set out guidelines on quality assurance, registration of TNE services, mechanics for recognition of foreign higher education institutions and courses of study and Philippine universities engaged in TNE.
"This a confirmation of the British Council’s commitment to support CHED in creating regulatory conditions conducive for successful TNE operations in the Philippines. This is the very first year and I am confident this program will grow to be massively exciting, extremely powerful and potentially transformational partnership on both countries," said Pruce.
CHED have earlier highlighted the urgent need to establish regulatory mechanisms as the country is increasingly becoming a study destination among its neighbors for learning in English and other professional degrees.
Of the 10 universities chosen to spearhead the TNE, SLU and the Central Luzon State University were selected in the north. SLU is set to partner with Coventry University in the U.K. which will award the diploma for those who will undergo and finish the Master of Science in DRRM.
Pruce shared a growing number of UK companies which choose to setup some of its operations in the Philippines, and the government’s efforts towards upgrading the country’s education systems and quality of its future workforce would be mutually beneficial for the growth of Philippines and the UK.
The CHED collaboration on TNE is part of British Council’s work in the Philippines on internationalization of higher education. A research on the Opportunities and Challenges on Internationalization of Higher Education in the Philippines, commissioned by British Council was released in 2015.