THE House of Representatives approved on third and final reading a bill that sets the legal bases for foreign universities, particularly top foreign universities, to establish their presence and collaborate with local universities in the Philippines.
Deputy Majority Leader Ron P. Salo of Kabayan, principal author of House Bill (HB) 8682, said the bill expands access to quality higher degree programs of foreign universities.
The bill mandates the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to formulate a coherent national strategy to encourage and facilitate the establishment of the most effective forms of transnational higher education programs and institutions.
It also mandates Foreign Higher Education Institutions (FHEIs) to establish a commercial presence or engage in the business of providing educational services in the Philippines through various modes or through arrangement with a Philippine higher education institution consistent with the Constitution.
The measure allows FHEIs to establish branch campuses in the Philippines through a local partner, at least 60 percent owned by Filipino citizens, duly registered with Securities and Exchange Commission or the Department of Trade and Industry, as the case may be.
Salo said 11 different modes of transnational higher education operations are covered in HB 8682 ranging from academic franchising to offering double degrees to a process called “validation,” according to the former University College of London Master of International Law scholar.
The Senate counterpart of HB 8682 is Senate Bill 1593 authored by Sen. Francis G. Escudero. Sen. Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva also supports the measure and requests that he be made coauthor of SB 1593 which is still pending at the committee level, according to the latest posting on the Senate web site.
He said the bill allows Philippine universities and colleges to operate overseas.
Salo said it prescribes minimum standards for partnerships, collaborative arrangements and commercial operations.
HB 8682 also allows Philippine colleges and universities to run programs and campuses overseas.
“Such partnerships and collaborative arrangements between higher education institutions in the Philippines and highly recognized schools abroad are expected to help improve the World University rankings of Philippine HEIs,” Salo said.
“One of the effects is ‘osmosis’ of competence and high standards to the other universities. Our southeast Asian neighbor Malaysia already has its University of Malaya in the Top 100 universities based on the Quacquarelli Symonds [QS] World University Rankings,” Salo added.
The University of the Philippines remains the top university in the country, ranking 384th place in the 2019 QS World University Rankings. UP’s ranking, however, slid down from 367th in 2018.
Under the measure, the curricula of universities that belong to the Top 500 world’s best universities based on international ranking acknowledged by CHED are deemed to have met the international standards and shall be exempted from complying with CHED standards.
“More foreign investments in higher education will be among the outcomes of HB 8682 when this eventually becomes the Transnational Higher Education Act,” he added.
Salo said the country’s top schools are the ones doing most of the transnational education activity.
“HB 8682 opens various ways for more of the top universities and colleges we have outside of Metro Manila, in Luzon, [the] Visayas and Mindanao,” Salo said.