PH, Malaysia strengthen cooperation to expand higher education opportunities

The Philippines and Malaysia fortify their cooperation by exploring ways to expand higher education opportunities for educators and learners across Southeast Asia.

This comes as the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS) on the sidelines of the 4th European Union-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (EU-ASEAN) policy dialogue on Higher Education on Tuesday.

The LOI seeks to strengthen scholarship, research and academic exchange opportunities between the Philippines and Malaysia, and across Southeast Asia.

In an interview, CHED Chairperson Shirley Agrupis said the collaboration aims to strengthen instructional partnerships through increased student and faculty mobility, as well as shared efforts in research and innovation.

“In instruction, of course, we focused on student and faculty mobility, so that we can expand our knowledge and skills beyond our borders and Malaysia,” she said.

“In research, we are ready to collaborate with Malaysian Higher Education Institutions and EMGS, so that we can share ideas.”

The LOI also aims to expand the ASEAN Global Exchange for Mobility and Scholarship (GEMS) through the ASEAN GEMS Plus (+) cooperation, advance transnational higher education, and launch EducationPhilippines (EduPhil), among others.

GEMS pertains to the regional online platform that has offered more than USD25 million worth of scholarships and university incentives as of July.

Moreover, GEMS+ intends to cover a broader scope than university exchanges and scholarships, including research grants, researcher mobility, innovation partnerships and joint research projects to address sustainable development challenges.

For the EduPhil, Agrupis said policy guidelines will be finalized with other government agencies before its actual rollout.

“After tomorrow, we shall be ready to tell the public that EduPhil, which is a one-portal system for student visa processing, including all education-related foreign affairs requirements, will be placed in a one-portal system all over the world,” Agrupis said.