The Project

The two-year Programme provides capacity and funding support to ten Philippine higher education institutions (HEIs) to co-develop with UK universities joint, double or dual postgraduate degrees not currently offered in the country.

Ateneo de Manila University, Bicol University, Central Luzon State University, De La Salle University, Miriam College, Saint Louis University, Silliman University, University of San Carlos, University of the Philippines, and the University of Santo Tomas. Learn more about these higher education institutions here.

The Philippine HEIs selected their UK HEI partners. The British Council issued a Call of Interest to UK HEIs and organised partnerships meetings, group and one-on-one meetings.

This project aims to pilot TNE models in pre-selected Philippine and UK HEI partners, from planning to execution. Here, both the British Council and CHED envisioned that the target Philippine HEIs will involve and mentor other HEIs in the future. 

For Philippine HEIs interested to establish TNE partnerships, another funding scheme is available under CHED’s Institutional Development and Innovation Grant (IDIG). You can find the details in CHED Memorandum Order No. 33. S. 2016 Guidelines for Institutional Development and Innovation Grant under the K-12 Transition Program.

A funding worth over Php5M or £77,000 is intended for the Philippine HEIs to support the costs of the TNE development process together with their respective UK HEI partner. Eligible expenditures include in-country and UK academic workshops; visits of the UK partners to the Philippines; and costs associated with programme development and delivery (e.g. programme approval fees, training fees, teaching/learning materials, library access/support). The Grant may not be used for capital outlay. Acquisition of equipment in the second year is eligible but only if it is critical to attainment of the project objectives.

This collaborative programme is part of CHED’s comprehensive plan to support Philippine HEIs during the K-12 transition programme and since this is a government funding, the grant funds under this Programme are only for Philippine HEIs. Costs associated with TNE development (also detailed above) are to be managed by the Philippine HEIs, including costs associated with programme partnership with the UK HEI partners.

The UK-Philippine HEI partnerships should be an institutional partnership. The UK HEI partners are expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding / Memorandum of Agreement with their Philippine HEI partner, which will detail the scope of the partnerships and roles and accountabilities of both parties. The said MOU/MOA is a requirement to access grant funding.

In principle, yes, as the UK-Philippine TNE partnerships are made under the Project and the joint funding comes from British Council and CHED. Along with their Philippine partners, the UK HEIs are expected to produce the targeted outputs of the Project – joint/dual UK-Philippines postgraduate programmes. More specific accountabilities though of UK HEIs are with their respective Philippine partners. UK HEIs are expected to actively participate in project activities.

CHED Memorandum Order No. 62, series of 2016, Policies, Standards and Guidelines on Transnational Education (attached) provides the eligibility requirements of foreign university partners for TNE and processes for application to operate TNE. It is the responsibility of the Philippine partners to undertake this TNE application.

However, autonomous Philippine HEIs including the ten Philippine HEIs under this Project, are exempted from having to go through this application process. They are only required to inform CHED about the TNE programme that they are offering.

It is expected that the partnership on TNE will trigger further collaborations between the UK-Philippine partners. The partners are likewise expected to sustain the offering of the TNE programmes.

The project requires the Philippine HEIs to conduct a market study to identify the student market and inform the design of their programmes. In addition to the individual marketing campaigns of the HEIs, the Project will fund an integrated marketing strategy to promote the TNE programmes. The Philippine HEIs will also be given support on enhancing their marketing and promotional skills.

CHED will also be supporting a number of faculty scholars who will be enrolling in the TNE programmes as part of its Professional Development initiatives. The said faculty scholars are expected to form part of the academic staff who will deliver the TNE programmes.

The joint/dual degree programmes can be offered without being accredited yet by accreditation bodies. As an autonomous institution, the Philippine HEIs are award-granting bodies. Programme accreditation in the Philippines is voluntary.

Ownership of the joint/dual degree programme will depend on the agreement between the Philippine HEI and its UK HEI partner.