The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) on Tuesday underscored the need to boost internationalization efforts for higher education institutions (HEIs).

In a featured speech during the 9th annual EURASIA Higher Education (EURIE) Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, CHED Chairperson J. Prospero De Vera III said universities in the Philippines are “aggressively internationalizing.”

“Since 2016, we have been aggressively pushing for internationalization both as a strategy to improve quality, but more importantly, because we want to produce locally responsive and globally competitive graduates,” he said.

For the Times Higher Education (THE) report alone, the country’s participation in impact ranking grew to 60 HEIs, much higher than the single-ranked HEI in 2019.

De Vera said the Philippine government is now focusing on science and technology, agriculture, medicine, and allied health sciences, as well as the promotion of university-industry linkages to ensure skill match.

“We, therefore, welcome this opportunity through the EURIE Summit to further explore opportunities in line with the instruction of our President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to continuously improve higher education institutions,” he added.

He then expressed the country’s willingness to continue bilateral ties with Turkey in terms of improving the higher education sector, alongside his invitation to other delegates to join the country’s panel for partnership opportunities.

In the end, De Vera urged leaders to act on limiting factors that affect the marginalized sector across the globe.

“I support the manifestation of the speakers before me of the importance of discussing AI (artificial intelligence) and other developments but I ask in this conference that we should not forget the impact of war and conflict on higher education institutions, the digital divide, and global and regional disparities that limit access to marginalized groups,” he said.

The 2024 EURIE Summit, with its theme Building Global Connections, shall continue until Thursday.

The CHED, along with six presidents from the leading universities in the country, joined the Philippine delegation. (PNA)