Six universities will be offering free online training on flexible learning to faculty members of other schools to help them prepare for the "new normal" in the country's higher education sector, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) announced on Thursday.

"We are going to do another collaborative activity with six Philippine universities who have taken it upon themselves to rise to the challenge of helping to ensure that we can open the semester in August well-prepared by doing capacity building programs or training programs with faculty members," CHED Chairman J. Prospero De Vera III said in a virtual press briefing.

The universities collaborating with the Commission through its "Hi-Ed Bayanihan" initiative are the Central Luzon State University, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, Far Eastern University, Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation, Philippine Normal University, and Tarlac Agricultural University.

According to De Vera, the online training, an initiative of the Commission and the aforementioned universities, is targeted towards "faculty members of smaller universities that have limited capacity to do training programs for them."

"While I am confident that the top universities are very ready, I am concerned that smaller universities especially in far-flung areas may not be as prepared because they do not have the internal capacity to do the training program or they have fewer resources in preparing for the next semester," he explained. 

Each university will use its own training program where faculty members will be taught to revise their syllabi, come up with instructional materials for flexible learning, and use digital resources and tools, among others.

The Commission said they are now working with its regional offices to determine schools that need training or cannot train their faculty on their own. 
Other schools that want to train their faculty members via the program may also reach out to the six universities.

The CHED earlier said colleges and universities will start their school year depending on their learning delivery mode.

HEIs using full online education may open any time after May 31, while those with flexible learning mode can start in August, the Commission added.