The number of scholars under the DOST-Science Education Institute (SEI) Foreign Graduate Scholarship who are pursuing their Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) abroad has been trimmed down to 175 after nine of them completed their studies.
DOST Secretary Fortunato T. dela Peña said nine of the 184 scholars who were sent to 24 different countries already graduated.
He noted that the scholars are pursuing their graduate degree programs in fields of studies that are mostly not offered yet in any higher education institution in the country.
"Nine of the 184 graduated recently,” he said in a report.
Of the 184 scholars sent abroad, 105 are Accelerated Science and Technology Human Resource Development Program or ASTHRDP scholars taking up M.S. and Ph.D. in basic and applied science and mathematics, the DOST Chief said.
Also included in the list are DOST-Newton scholars, he said. "This collaboration between the DOST and the British Council supports Filipino researchers in pursuing their Ph.D. in recognized institutions in the United Kingdom,” dela Peña noted.
He said under the DOST-SEI Foreign Graduate Scholarship, 45 are Engineering and Research Development for Technology or ERDT scholars, who are expected to perform high-impact researches in engineering and technology.
Under ERDT, 39 are Faculty Development scholars, five are in the Sandwich Program, and one Post-Doctoral Fellow, he noted.
Also part of the group are eight Human Resource Development Program or HRDP scholars and 11 Philippine-California Advanced Research Institutes or PCARI scholars.
According to Dela Peña, HRDP is offered to qualified DOST employees as part of the Department’s internal capacity-building efforts.
While, PCARI program supports scholars specializing in information, infrastructure development, health innovation, and translational medicine, he said.
"There are also 34 are scholars from ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), specifically, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar who are taking their M.S. or Ph.D. in Philippine universities. This is the Philippine contribution to advance human resource development in S&T (science and technology) in ASEAN,” he said.
He said upcoming programs such as the PhilFrance-DOST Scholarships and the DOST-SEI-UAlberta (University of Alberta in Alberta, Canada) S&T Graduate Scholarship Program were not included in the DOST-SEI’s list of 184 scholars.