MISAMIS ORIENTAL (PIA)--To commemorate the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) 56th founding anniversary, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED)-10 shared its major activities, which included a vlog competition and several forums.
"Through the Commission on Higher Education, we convey the importance of ASEAN, which our country is part of as one of the founding member countries. We have a series of activities to remind the public that we are a member of ASEAN," says CHED-10 Regional Director Freddie T. Bernal.
CHED-10 will hold a motorcade and cultural showcase of dances and costumes from the 10 ASEAN-member countries on August 25. Their celebration will end on December 7 with the Transnational Higher Education Forum, the Culminating and Awarding Ceremony, and the Foreign Students Forum.
Aside from the said events, they will also hold the ASEAN Vlog Competition, the ASEAN Hymn Chorale Competition, and the Hospitality and Tourism Management Education Forum.
With this year’s ASEAN celebration taking place in Indonesia as its chair country, the theme highlights the country’s vision as a beacon of peace and stability in the Southeast Asian region, thus adopting the theme "ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth."
CHED in fostering ASEAN goals
Aside from the promotion of the ASEAN founding anniversary celebration, the commission works with the ASEAN secretariat in the development and promotion of strategies that promote regional cooperation in higher education, which includes student mobility and academic exchanges between ASEAN countries, developing standards for higher education, and facilitating collaborative research and development projects.
Bernal said there are several exchange students that are admitted to the different universities and state universities and colleges (SUCs) in the region, as well as students coming from Northern Mindanao who have also benefited from the exchange student program.
Further, with close collaboration with the Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) was added to the ASEAN University Network for Southeast Asia Engineering Education Development Network (AUN/SEED-Net) alongside the other universities in the country.
"Recently, CHED leads in the formulation of the ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF), which is designed to accommodate and support the various national qualification frameworks of ASEAN countries to promote recognition of qualifications and facilitate lifelong learning and learner mobility," Bernal said.
ASEAN feats
ASEAN has made several political, security, and socio-cultural changes, but the most notable is the formulation of the Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRA), which is a framework arrangement that was established to support liberalizing and facilitating trade in services.
"MRA is a framework that facilitates the movement of our professionals or skilled workers to work within the ten member countries of ASEAN," CHED-10 Technical Division Chief Miriam B. Fuentes said.
The commission further expressed that through the said agreement, the country had successfully sent engineers in 2005, followed by nurses in 2006, architects and surveyors in 2007, doctors, dentists, and accountants in 2009, and in 2009, tourism professionals.
As northern Mindanao joins the celebration of the 56th founding anniversary of ASEAN, CHED-10 invites the public to witness the various events that they have prepared so that everyone will appreciate the ASEAN celebration and see the creativity and talents of the participating students.
For further information on the ASEAN celebration, CHED-10 also invites the public to visit their official websites, ched.gov.ph or ro10.ched.gov.ph, and the ASEAN website, www.asean.org. (JAKA/PIA-10)
