Officials of the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA) are set to join as fellows United Sates-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (US-ASEAN) University Connections Initiative (UCI) in the US.
TESDA Deputy Director General for TESD Operations Aniceto D. Bertiz III will attend the program in Washington DC from Feb. 17 to 25, 2023, and will be joined by TESDA Technology Institution administrators Angelica Gonzales and Grace Florentino.
According to TESDA, the initiative is administered through the US Department of State’s Increase and Diversify Education Abroad for U.S. Students (IDEAS) Program, which builds the capacity of U.S. colleges and universities to engage in global partnerships and study abroad programming aligned with U.S. foreign policy goals.
The UCI will bring together 50 leaders from diverse colleges and universities in the United States and eight ASEAN member countries—Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam—for a series of virtual and in-person training designed to foster sustainable international academic partnerships and the two-way exchange of students, scholars, and researchers between US and Southeast Asian higher education institutions.
Bertiz, who is also the TESDA spokesperson, stated that the Philippines, through TESDA, can learn more about the best practices in the education sector particularly in the implementation of technical vocational education and training (TVET) during the training.
He vowed that the learnings they will gain during the training will be considered in the formulation and review of new and existing TESDA programs and services.
“We welcome our participation in the U.S.-ASEAN University Connections Initiative as this gives us a chance to exchange best practices with U.S. academics, and explore opportunities for collaborative research and teaching initiatives,” Bertiz said.
“We will continue to strengthen our engagements with international stakeholders to further advance the Philippine TVET ecosystem and ensure that TESDA training is at par with international standards,” he added.