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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider New areas of collaboration: Philippines, Turkey renew academic ties

New areas of collaboration: Philippines, Turkey renew academic ties

Partnership to focus on science and technology, engineering, and fisheries

Published Mar 4, 2024 02:29 pm

The Philippines, through the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and Turkey, through the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) renewed ties to promote academic partnerships between their respective universities.

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(Courtesy of CHED)

In a statement issued Monday, March 4, CHED announced that the renewed partnership aims to strengthen cooperation in the areas of Science and Technology, Engineering, and Fisheries.

CHED Secretary Popoy De Vera and CoHE President Erol Özvar met at the sidelines of the Eurasia Higher Education Summit in Istanbul to identify new areas of collaboration after the completion of the five-year Memorandum of Agreement signed in 2018 between the two ministries.

Also in attendance during the special meeting were Philippine Ambassador to Turkey Henry Bensurto, Jr., Mariano Marcos State University President Shirley Agrupis, Iloilo Science and Technological University President Gabriel Salistre, Caraga State University President Rolyn Daguil, MSU-Naawan Chancellor Elnor Roa and officials of University of Luzon and Virgen Milagrosa University Foundation.

Partnership

In December 2019, De Vera together with Roa, Chancellor Ricardo Babaran of the University of the Philippines Visayas, and President Godelyn Hisole of Iloilo State College of Fisheries, traveled to Turkey for an academic mission in fisheries and marine science.

While the Covid-19 pandemic slowed down the higher education collaboration between the two countries, the Commission approved and funded a project supporting this collaboration and on Sept. 17 to 28, 2022, MSU at Naawan and other fisheries schools met their counterparts to forge collaboration activities.

These include sending five graduate students to Kastamonu University and Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University in Turkey; panel membership of Turkish faculty members to theses and dissertations of graduate students; membership of MSU Naawan faculty member to the official journal of COMU; and a new five-year Memorandum of Agreement between CHED and CoHE is now ready for signing.

"We should think of possible opportunities in the fisheries first, then we can extend our cooperation to other areas," Özvar said.

Broadening the scope of cooperation

Meanwhile, De Vera noted that the meeting during the EURIE Conference aims to broaden the scope of cooperation to include Science, and Technology, and engineering.

"While we continue to push for partnerships in fisheries, it is now possible to expand by bringing together universities with excellent Science, Technology, and Engineering programs from both countries,” he said. “We recognize Turkey's world-class quality of education, especially in engineering and technology,” he added.

Moreover, De Vera and Ambassador Bensurto also thanked the Turkish government for their support for the peace process in Mindanao.

CHED said that upon the initiative of Ozvar, the two parties also discussed the possibility of collaboration in university research partnerships in the defense industry by combining education, research and development, and industrial partnerships.

De Vera, for his part, also pushed for upskilling and reskilling programs by universities consistent with the instructions of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to CHED and other government agencies.

Continued commitment

Moving forward, CHED and Turkey's Council of Higher Education expressed their commitment to sign a new Memorandum of Agreement to formalize the agreed-upon areas of cooperation.

In addition to the MOA, a Technical Working Group will be created to be led by the Philippine Ambassador in Turkey and CoHE, and representatives of the six Philippine universities in attendance to develop a work plan to implement projects in the identified areas of cooperation.

De Vera also invited CoHE President Özvar to visit the Philippines.

“This visit aims to highlight the 75th anniversary of bilateral relations between the Philippines and Turkey, which will be celebrated through academic exchanges between universities and institutions from both countries,” CHED said.

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