Recognizing the challenges facing academic leaders in higher education, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) continues to find ways in an effort to upgrade their leadership skills.
Among these initiatives is a partnership with the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) to upgrade the leadership skills of State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and CHED officials through the launching of the Global Academic Leadership Program (GALP).
CHED, in a statement issued Tuesday, April 6, said that the AIM School of Executive Education and Lifelong Learning (SEELL) - which runs the GALP - is the executive development arm of AIM.
The SEELL provides leading-edge, differentiated and results-oriented executive education programs. Thus, the GALP also supports the new vision and mission of CHED to continue improving the leadership skills of SUC officials as part of the modernization of Philippine higher education.
AIM President Jikyeong Kang, CHED Chairman J. Prospero E. De Vera III, Commissioner Aldrin A. Darilag, Commissioner Lilian A. De Las Llagas launched the GALP under the CHED International Continuing Professional Education (ICPE) Grants recently. The opening ceremony was held on April 5.
“The objective of this program is quite simple - we recognize that the challenges facing academic leaders in higher education is very broad and numerous,” De Vera said.
De Vera noted that the leaders in higher education “deal with a wide range of stakeholders - students and their patients, faculty, alumni, local governments, audit and budget agencies, legislators, even informal settlers who illegally occupy their campuses.”
Given these, De Vera noted that is “very difficult to convert an academician into a President or Vice President of the university because the training for professors is very different from the training for academic leaders.”
The CHED-AIM GALP is a 40-day online program that aims to equip the participants with concepts, frameworks, principles, and innovative tools that will assist them to perform to all intents and purposes in their mandated leadership functions. It is one of the key internationalization programs under the CHED International Affairs Staff (IAS) under Director Lily Freida Milla.
CHED said that this program will also strengthen the participants’ problem-solving, decision-making, and team-building skills given the challenges of the 21st century learnings and the new perspective of the 4th Industrial Revolution.
The GALP participants will be trained in four cohorts, with SUC and CHED officials joining virtually from all over the country.
The Cohort 1 commenced their training right after the Opening Ceremony last March 15 while Cohort 2 commenced their on April 5. The Cohorts 3 and 4 will begin their training on April 26 and May 17, 2021, respectively.
“We want to capacitate our leaders both in the SUCs, as well as the CHED bureaucracy in the regions and central office so that they get the necessary skills needed as they address the concerns and demands of these stakeholders,” De Vera added.