FORMER Commission on Higher Education (Ched) commissioner Dr. Alex Brillantes Jr. urged colleges and universities in the country to think global, but act local in the wake of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Integration.
Brillantes said the advice during the 2017 Asean Forum for Higher Education Institution (HEI) stakeholders at University of the Cordilleras.
The event is in line with the celebration of CHED’s 23rd anniversary along with the 50th anniversary of Asean with the theme “CHED@23: Harmony in Diversity, Connecting with the Asean Community.”
Brillantes discussed the state of the Philippine higher education and directions for reform while urging the different colleges and universities to work out a plan which strengthens, deepens and widens cooperation with partners and expand scope of education towards development of a more coordinated, cohesive, and coherent Asean.
Asean blue print 2025 was also tackled focusing on emphasis on trade facilitation, inclusion of mirco-enterprise, access to finance, enterprise development, sectoral cooperation, science and technology innovation and from “integration into the global economy” to Global Asean.
“We should be more competitive, we should work harder, and otherwise we’ll be left behind,” Brillantes said.
Only National University and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore are within the top 100 universities globally, which ranked 12 and 13 respectively.
Philippines, on the other hand, ranked in 374 with University of the Philippines and 501-550 for Ateneo de Manila.
Philippine qualification framework, according to Brillantes, has to be aligned with the Asean qualification framework so training programs are recognized by the Asean.
“At the end of the day, we as educators have to make sure that the products we offer have these global standards. Question, are we ready for that?” Brillantes asked.
The Asean Socio-Cultural Community aims to establish Asean as a community, which is people-centered, inclusive, harmonious, and socially responsible. It has six areas such as promoting human development, enhancing social welfare and protection, promoting social justice and rights, ensuring environmental sustainability, building the Asean identity, and narrowing the development gap.
The Asean Economic Community provides an excellent opportunity for Asean countries to have coopetition, cooperate and compete, with each other towards the collective goal of improving the quality of lives of the people in the region and improve the delivery of basic services.
Chief Education Program Specialist of Ched in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) Menzie Kuengan asserted the activity was a success in disseminating information about Asean particularly matters concerning higher education.
“Since we are working on higher education, we have the responsibility to implement programs especially for our students and graduates to be globally competitive as our speaker said,” Kuengan said in her closing remarks.
The activity was participated by HEIs in CAR such as Baguio Central University, University of the Philippines Baguio, University of the Cordilleras, Baguio City Academy College Inc., Saint Louis University, Keystone College, Casiciaco Recoletos Seminary, University of Baguio, STI, Data Center Colleges of the Philippines, Easter College, AMA Baguio, Pines City Colleges, Baguio Christian Mission International College, Kalinga State University, Ifugao State University, Abra State Institute of Sciences and Technology, Abra Valley Colleges, Benguet State University, Cordillera Career Development College, BVS College, BCM, along with several government agencies and other international students. (Alvin Orpilla/Colegio de Dagupan Intern)