Sixteen administrators from Philippine Higher Education Institutions, State Colleges and Universities, and the Commission on Higher Education were presented as fellows of the UPSKILL Higher Education Innovations Leaders Fellowship during the Quality Assurance Conclave for Higher Education Leaders at the Sofitel Philippines Manila on 13 May 2024. Among the fellows is Engr. Jeffrey Des Binwag, SLU Dean of the School of Engineering and Architecture (SEA).
Before the fellows were called on stage, Mr. Ryan Washburn, Philippine Mission Director of the United States Agency for International Development stated, “I am pleased to announce that USAID is launching its Higher Education Innovation Leaders Fellowship Program. This program is designed to cultivate champions for innovation in higher education through an eight-month program including a week-long immersion at Arizona State.”
CHED Chairman Dr. J. Prospero De Vera III remarked, “They were all carefully vetted, they were endorsed, and they will be appropriately introduced to us in this session. These fellows are education leaders in their own right and will be cultivating advocacies of transformation through the fellowship program.” Addressing the fellows, he added, “I look forward therefore to seeing you contributing your own resources and working collectively towards a goal of a strengthened higher education system leading to inclusive growth in the Philippines.”
Together with the fellows presented were Dr. De Vera, Mr. Washburn, Dr. Richard Abendan, Chief of Party of the UPSKILL Program, and Dr. Gael McDonald, Senior Director of Higher Education Institutional Development, University Design Institute (UDI), Arizona State University. The fellows are from Adamson University, Ateneo De Davao University, Ateneo De Manila University, De La Salle University, Far Eastern University, Mapua University, Mariano Marcos State University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Saint Louis University, University of San Carlos, University of the Philippines-Diliman, University of the Philippines System, and the Commission on Higher Education.
The UPSKILL program directly promotes SDG 4: Quality Education, and SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals. The full coverage of the Quality Assurance Conclave can be viewed at: CHED QA Conclave 2024
