By Stewart C. Ocampo

The British Council in the Philippines (BC), through the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), will grant the Mariano Marcos State University with a Php 3,050,000 million fund to develop and implement its transnational education (TNE) program.

This was confirmed by Mr. Pierre Pecson, BC education manager, during an online meeting with MMSU and other Philippine state universities and colleges on February 15.

Pecson said each of the five schools will be given an initial amount of Php 300,000 this year to be used for the delivery of trainings and the conduct of a market feasibility study for the TNE program.

The meeting was attended by University President Shirley C. Agrupis; Dr. Mee Jay Domingo, director for internationalization, linkages and partnerships; and Dr. Saturnina Nisperos, director for futures thinking and strategic foresight. 

Prior to this, an online meeting was held on February 14 to tackle the development of TNE toolkit, which will help the Philippine HEIs in implementing TNE programs in the country. The meeting was attended by Dr. Agrupis and Dr. Nisperos.

Aside from MMSU, other institutions to be funded by BC for TNE programs are the University of the Philippines - Manila, Batangas State University, Philippine Normal University, and Central Mindanao University.

These universities are part of the Access and Competitiveness through Internationalization of Higher Education project of CHED and BC. The project seeks to widen the access of learners to quality higher education and build the competitiveness of Filipino universities.

TNE refers to all types and modes of delivery of study programs, sets of courses of study, or educational services, which involve education systems of a foreign state. It was signed in 2019 through the Transnational Higher Education Act (Republic Act 1148).

In November last year, MMSU partnered with the University of East London in the United Kingdom to pursue international exchange programs and research collaboration in the fields of renewable energy, net zero energy, and probiotics. It also tied up with the Liverpool Hope University in UK to promote academic, research, and community exchanges. (HLY/JVBT/DPT, StratCom)