The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) has introduced a master's degree program in public administration with a special focus on Regulatory Management System (RMS) and Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA).

The agency also launched on July 15 a diploma course in public management.

In a statement, the ARTA said the two programs would further institutionalize RMS and RIA through formal education and embed the concepts of good regulatory management among the current and future government workforce.

RMS serves as the framework for reducing regulatory burdens and improving regulatory quality.

Meanwhile, RIA is central to an effective RMS because it is a systematic approach that critically measures the likely costs and benefits of proposed and existing regulations through a rigorous, well-defined, and evidence-based analysis.

"This will assist the agencies in reviewing, simplifying, modifying, and modernizing existing and proposed regulations to achieve good regulatory governance and promote new culture among regulators and regulated entities," the ARTA said.

According to the agency, the new course and program were made possible through a partnership between ARTA and the University of the Philippines-National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG)

ARTA thanked the officials and faculty of the UP-NCPAG who were "instrumental" in successfully creating the new course and program.

Fourteen ARTA personnel are among the first batch of students for the new course and program. They will begin their schooling in September 2022.

There will also be seven available slots for scholarships made possible through the efforts of the Authority. Of the said number, two are from ARTA Officer-in-Charge Ernesto Perez and his family, and the rest are from the Aboitiz Group through a Memorandum of Agreement ( MOA ).

The new course and program align with ARTA's mandate to serve as a regulatory oversight body that will take the lead in institutionalizing RMS and RIA, as stated in the Ease of Doing Business Act.