Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Popoy De Vera led a High-level Higher Education Partnership Mission to Canada to expand opportunities to engage in academic and research partnerships focused on health sciences, renewable energy, agriculture, engineering and technology, data science and disaster risk management, among others.
He was accompanied by CHED Region I OIC-Director Danilo B. Bose, Trade Commissioner for Education of the Embassy of Canada in the Philippines Ms. Angel Cachuela and officials from eight (8) Philippine higher education institutions (HEIs) namely, Mariano Marcos State University, Iloilo Science and Technology University, West Visayas State University, Southern Leyte State University, World Citi Colleges and WCC Aeronautical and Technological College, Tarlac Agricultural University, Tarlac State University and Universidad
de Dagupan.
The mission provided an opportunity for CHED and delegates to visit and meet with nine (9) post-secondary institutions in Ottawa and Toronto such as Carleton University, University of Ottawa, Algonquin College, Ryerson University, York University, University of Toronto, Niagara College, Seneca College and Mohawk College.
As part of the mission, CHED and the Embassy of Canada in the Philippines organized the Philippines-Canada Education Networking session, an event that hosted about 20 Canadian education stakeholders on March 29, 2022 at the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa.
During the event, De Vera signed Joint Statements on Higher Education Cooperation with Universities Canada and Colleges and Institutes Canada to expand education collaboration in areas such as student mobility, Indigenous Peoples education, research aligned with the UN SDGs, faculty and staff development, Microcredentials, applied research, and inclusion of in-demand skills in the curriculum.
Letters of Intent were also signed by Universities Canada and Colleges and Institutes Canada with the eight (8) Philippine HEIs. The event announced and celebrated 11 MOUs forged between Canadian and Philippine institutions over the course of the pandemic in various discipline areas.
Aside from these milestones, CHED signed a Joint Statement on Higher Education Cooperation with Ryerson University on March 30, 2022 and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Academic Collaboration with York University on March 31, 2022 to initiate collaboration at the post-secondary and post-graduate levels.
On April 6, 2022 shortly after his return to the Philippines, De Vera virtually joined Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines His Excellency Peter MacArthur to witness the signing of the MOU between WCC Aeronautical and Technological College with British Columbia Institute of Technology on aircraft maintenance engineering and avionics.
“The success of CHED’s mission to Canada is rooted in an appreciation of Canada’s strengths in education delivery and research across disciplines and a shared vision to foster internationalization between Canadian and Philippine higher education institutions,” said Canadian Ambassador Peter MacArthur. “So we look forward to further enabling more trans-Pacific brain circulation between students and faculty.”
“CHED’s mission to Canada is a testament to the strong collaboration between Canada and the Philippines on higher education internationalization,” De Vera said.
“In recent years, the significant growth of academic and research partnerships between Canadian and Philippine higher education institutions has fostered cross-border collaboration between countries, expanding access to international education opportunities to Canadian and Philippine students and faculty,” he added
J. PROSPERO E. DE VERA III, DPA
Chairman
Commission on Higher Education
