VPAA Paluga Trains in Canada

Vice President Dr. Rolando N. Paluga attended a strategic planning training program called the Internationalization of Higher Education in the Philippines sponsored by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Canadian Bureau of Internationalization (CBIE) on June 24 to July 21, 2017 in three metropolitan cities in Canada namely Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto.

Dr. Paluga was one of the 15 culled delegates from the premiere state universities and colleges in the country who trained under the tutelage of distinguished international educators, Prof. Hans de Wit, director of the Center for International Higher Education, Boston College and Prof. Sonja Knutson, director for Internationalization Office, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

The training included 14 modules on the different academic and administrative dimensions of internationalization and the insightful visits to a number of prestigious Canadian universities—all designed to gear up universities and policy makers in Philippine higher education to consider internationalization to be one of the most significant aspects of an institutional strategy.

The select delegates were introduced to some international education initiatives and the different perspectives on creating an internationalization program when they visited Carleton University, University of Ottawa, Concordia University, McGill University, Ryerson University, McMaster University, York University, Guelph University, Algonquin College, Centennial College, Seneca College, and Niagara College, where the team had seen potential areas of partnerships pertaining student and faculty mobility, research collaboration, internationally standardized curricular reshaping, joint degree programs, sandwich programs, and capacity-building activities.

The month-long training culminated with the delegates’ comprehensive presentations of their respective strategic internationalization, done in the presence of CHED Commissioner Prospero De Vera, CHED-International Affairs Services Director Atty. Lily Freida M. Milla, and CHED-HEDF Dir. Luisa S. Valencia. JVBohol /piaea