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MANILA, Philippines — The British Council in the Philippines will soon launch new courses and degree programs in teacher education, health sciences, and biology as it seeks to expand its collaboration with the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) for 2023.
Through Republic Act No. 11448, or the Transnational Higher Education Act, foreign and local universities can forge partnerships to increase Filipino access to international education and degree programs without having to go abroad.
British Council education program manager Pierre Pecson said at a recent press briefing that Bicol University (BU) partnered with the University of Liverpool (UoL) to offer master’s degree in sustainable food systems.
“One of our major accomplishments is to enable Filipinos to get a UK degree without spending all of their time overseas,” he said.
Upon completing the master’s program, the student will be granted two separate degrees: master of science in sustainable food systems from BU and master of science in advanced biological science from UoL.
In partnership with the University of Reading, the University of Santo Tomas was able to offer a doctoral program in built environment or architecture.
Through its flagship program, Access and Competitiveness through Internationalisation of Higher Education, the council also intends to develop new degrees in support of the CHEd’s Transnational Higher Education strategy.
“In the next few years, we hope to launch new programs in [information technology], health sciences, engineering, teacher education, and biology … among others,” he added.