By Daniel P. Tapaoan, Jr. 

In another way to expand its linkages abroad, Mariano Marcos State University participated in the fourth Annual Global Partners Summit hosted by the Seirei Christopher University (SCU) Global Committee in Japan today, February 21. 

MMSU is one of eight universities that joined in the online meeting, which served as avenue in discussing international exchanges and collaborative activities in the post-pandemic world, and in sharing about admissions for international students.

Representing MMSU, three faculty members from the College of Health Sciences (CHS) attended the meeting: Prof. Ryan Dean Sucgang, officer-in-charge college dean, Prof. Julie Ann Gatoc, college planning and development coordinator, and Prof. Judith Valenzuela, chairperson of the nursing department. 

In the meeting, Prof. Sucgang said MMSU is implementing an international exchange program with the SCU, and part of it is the two-week clinical externship of five Japanese physical therapy students in Ilocos Norte. 

He also bared the college’s plan to expand its partnership with SCU by connecting with its nursing and pharmacy programs. He also expressed hope that MMSU-CHS would forge partnerships with other foreign universities in the area of health sciences. 

Other attendees in the meeting were faculty members from the Nanyang Polytechnic and Singapore Institute of Technology in Singapore, Samuel Merritt University and Seattle Pacific University in the United States, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University in China, Chiang Mai University in Thailand, and SCU. 

This is the second time that MMSU attended the SCU-hosted international summit. (HLY/JVBT, StratCom)