PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan (PIA) — The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) pushes to strengthen collaboration in technology and resources among higher educational institutions (HEIs) through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) of Malaysia.
CHED MIMAROPA Regional Director Jimmy Catanes said that the Commission is opening a door for HEIs to share resources with each other. The expertise of the UTP, as an established institution, would help HEIs in terms of resources and training faculty and students.
“We are forging this partnership to really show that our institutions here in the Philippines are doing well. We have the capabilities, and they are here for us to show us what to offer in terms of global citizenship, academics, and research. We do not usually collaborate, we do not usually share,” Catanes said.
The signing of the MOU on June 21 was the next move following the collaboration workshop facilitated in Perak, Malaysia, on May 6-7 with participants from several universities in the country.
Among the universities that have signed the MOU are Western Philippines University (WPU) and Palawan State University (PSU), with the latter having an existing partnership with UTP. PSU sends scholars to UTP through the assistance of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) for some faculty members of the College of Engineering, Architecture, and Technology (CEAT) to enroll in master’s degree programs.
PSU president Ramon Docto said the university had five graduates from the master’s program in petroleum engineering in 2022. The university considers the possibility of offering a masters program in petroleum engineering in 2025, given the number of CEAT faculty members who graduated from UTP.
“We are also trying to have another course with UTP on master in renewable energy, so if there is no petroleum anymore, we have renewable energy. We help our students here because we also offer petroleum engineering and environmental science so we can go on sustainable development,” Docto said.
The HEIs viewed the partnership with UTP, which is a private institution, as a model to promote public-private partnerships in the country. WPU president Amabel Liao expects that the partnership will further develop technology in agriculture, which is a banner program of the university.
Liao believes that the best way to meet that goal is to partner with UTP, whose expertise is aligned with engineering technology. WPU also expressed interest in availing of masters programs from the UTP, whose class setup would be helpful for faculty members to upskill themselves while serving in the university at the same time.
“One of our main objectives is really to put technology in agriculture, fisheries, and forestry so we can have food security and sustainable development. Right now, we have agriculture courses, and we would like to be able to insert technology in these particular courses,” she said.
Sending students to UTP is worth the money that the government will be spending on the learning they may gain from UTP, Liao added.
There is no schedule yet mentioned for the signing of memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the partnership. (RG/PIA MIMAROPA-Palawan)
