1. PHILIPPINE ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES COMMISSION ON ACCREDITATION December 4, 2014

2. INTERFACING PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK WITH ASEAN 2015 AND GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE CHALLENGES TO PRIVATE EDUCATION The ASEAN 2015 has made it imperative for the government to harmonize its initiatives in education. Philippine Education sector is now faced with very important reform policies: 1. Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 or the K-12 2. Executive Order 83 s2012, Institutionalization of the Philippine Qualifications Framework

3. INTERFACING PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK WITH ASEAN 2015 AND GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE CHALLENGES TO PRIVATE EDUCATION The intentions of the Philippine Qualifications Framework are the following: 1. To adopt national standards and levels for outcomes of education 2. Support the development and maintenance of pathways and equivalences providing access to qualifications and assisting people to move easily between sectors, and more importantly 3. To align the PQF with the international qualifications framework to support the mobility of our workers.

4. INTERFACING PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK WITH ASEAN 2015 AND GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE CHALLENGES TO PRIVATE EDUCATION The process seems to be taking longer than expected… The Philippine NQF is still a work in progress.

5. INTERFACING PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK WITH ASEAN 2015 AND GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE CHALLENGES TO PRIVATE EDUCATION The involved government agencies expect our Philippine Qualifications Framework would have been referenced against the ASEAN QRF by 2018 which will affect the mobility of our Filipino students and workers within the ASEAN economic community and in other regions.

6. INTERFACING PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK WITH ASEAN 2015 AND GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE CHALLENGES TO PRIVATE EDUCATION For Higher Educational Institutions, the issues and challenges facing us during ASEAN 2015 are: 1. Quality Assurance 2.Flexibility and Innovativeness 3. Student Mobility 4. Policies of Government Agencies

7. INTERFACING PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK WITH ASEAN 2015 AND GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE CHALLENGES TO PRIVATE EDUCATION In the FAAP Directory May 31, 2014: 520 schools with accredited programs Total HEIs – 1923 1699 private HEIs and 224 public HEIs, not including the 451 satellite SUC campuses 27% of our HEIs have accredited programs.

8. INTERFACING PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK WITH ASEAN 2015 AND GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE CHALLENGES TO PRIVATE EDUCATION For our PACU member schools: 62.4% schools with accredited programs. 116 schools from a total of 186 member schools.

9. INTERFACING PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK WITH ASEAN 2015 AND GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE CHALLENGES TO PRIVATE EDUCATION Challenge to PACUCOA: To commission a research to study the cost against the benefit of accreditation to the institutions and to their graduates that can be used by the schools' administrations to convince their stakeholders to undergo accreditation.

10. INTERFACING PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK WITH ASEAN 2015 AND GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE CHALLENGES TO PRIVATE EDUCATION Policy changes We need their assurance that we will be able to continue with our accreditation efforts during the K-12 transition when our enrollment, and therefore our finances, will be severely affected.

11. INTERFACING PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK WITH ASEAN 2015 AND GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE CHALLENGES TO PRIVATE EDUCATION The second challenge to HEIs is to be flexible and innovative so that our academic programs and standards will be comparable with international standards.

12. INTERFACING PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK WITH ASEAN 2015 AND GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE CHALLENGES TO PRIVATE EDUCATION Advantage of autonomous and deregulated schools The concern is that policy changes like CMO No 10 s2012... has not given the same break to our institutions who have improved their standards and accreditation levels. No institution has been awarded either autonomous or deregulated status, whose applications were submitted after January 2011... in spite of their compliance with the requirements and should have been awarded as such. Although come January 2015, we now have a level playing field in terms of the status of all the HEIs in the country.

13. INTERFACING PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK WITH ASEAN 2015 AND GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE CHALLENGES TO PRIVATE EDUCATION The mobility of students is one of the foremost concerns of higher educational institutions during ASEAN 2015 1. The ASEAN University Network (AUN) with 3 Philippine HEIs as members, allowing students of these universities to study in other ASEAN member universities through the AUN Credit Transfer System. 2. The University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UMAP) with 18 full members including the Philippines, enhancing student mobility through the UMAP Credit Transfer Scheme.

14. INTERFACING PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK WITH ASEAN 2015 AND GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE CHALLENGES TO PRIVATE EDUCATION 3. The ASEAN International Mobility for Students (AIMS) Program by SEMEO-RIHED where 12 Philippine HEIs are included, 3 of which are PACU member schools. The disciplines involved are Hospitality and Tourism, Agriculture, Language and Culture, International Business, Food and Technology, Economics, and Engineering.

15. INTERFACING PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK WITH ASEAN 2015 AND GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE CHALLENGES TO PRIVATE EDUCATION SEMEO believes that Higher Education is the driver for promoting Socio-Economic Development and fulfilling the vision of Leaders... ASEAN: We are ONE. Initially targeting 25 exchange students at the onset, they expect 500 exchange students to be mobilized, with expanding disciplines and membership, by 2015. These programs indeed are very noteworthy and encourages our institutions to proceed along the path, which has already been laid out for us.

16. INTERFACING PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK WITH ASEAN 2015 AND GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE CHALLENGES TO PRIVATE EDUCATION Lastly, our government agencies must also work with the HEIs and make sure that their policies are friendly and not too restrictive. For our institutions, with foreign students, we have heard of problems with the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa requirements and procedures. We intend to start with dialogues, through a task force with such agencies to present our issues and have a more foreign students friendly environment in the country.

17. INTERFACING PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK WITH ASEAN 2015 AND GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE CHALLENGES TO PRIVATE EDUCATION Adopt the Vision and Mission for Higher Education ---beyond the political 6 year term