By Daniel P. Tapaoan, Jr. 

Dr. Charlie Batin, associate professor of the MMSU College of Agriculture, Food and Sustainable Development (CAFSD), has qualified for the faculty mobility program of the Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC) this year. 

The chairperson of the CAFSD Department of Forestry and project leader of MMSU Bamboo Research and Development program will participate in the UC Faculty Mobility from June 1 to August 31, 2023 in the Tokyo University of Agriculture (Tokyo-Nodai) in Japan. 

UC Faculty Mobility is a capacity development program for faculty members in the areas of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and agricultural engineering. It is part of the “Leveling-Up Philippine Higher Education Institutions on Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Resources” project by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), funded by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). 

Dr. Batin, a SEARCA alumnus, applied for the UC Faculty Mobility with the endorsement of MMSU. His participation in the program will be funded by CHED through the International Continuing Professional Education grants.

In the three-month program, he will engage in research activities and will deliver lectures in the host university. He will also work on a research proposal that could become a collaborative research program between MMSU and Tokyo-Nodai in the future. 

“I look forward to a fruitful and rewarding learning experience, and to helping MMSU forge ties with the UC and to the Japan university,” Dr. Batin said. 

Established in 1989, UC aims to share resources and collaborate on student and faculty exchanges among leading agricultural universities. At present, the consortium is an effective network linking strong universities in Southeast Asia, Japan, Taiwan, Canada, and Germany. (HLY/JVBT, StratCom)