After its launch in August 2016, the 'Joint Development of Niche Programmes through Philippine-United Kingdom Linkages' has seen fast developments. At the moment, a number of postgraduate degrees are being developed by the 10 Philippine institutions and their partner UK universities: Ateneo de Manila University, Bicol University, Central Luzon State University, De La Salle University, Miriam College, Saint Louis University, Silliman University, University of the Philippines, University of San Carlos, and University of Santo Tomas. (Click here for the university profiles and priority areas for the TNE partnership.)

The British Council and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) pre-selected the 10 Philippine HEIs as recipients of the project support based on their capacity and readiness for international partnerships. Recognised as Centres of Excellence or Centres of Development, these universities are autonomous, deregulated, and have continuing international and TNE partnerships. The UK institutions, on the other hand, have been selected by the Philippine universities after conducting their first forum in London last November 2016.

Shortly after that, a call for proposal for grant funding was launched in December where the 10 Philippine universities were invited to present their intended programme of activities for the duration of the project. A follow-up event was held in Manila, Philippines last February 2017 where eight of the partner UK universities were present.

The transnational postgraduate programmes are expected to be offered starting AY 2018/2019, and can be in the form of either joint or double degree, or joint research leading towards graduate degree by research, and with at least six months of study in the UK.

Also, as a result of the TNE project, the 10 Philippine university beneficiaries have come together to create 'Universities Philippines', a consortium that will provide a platform for collaborative planning among the universities. They aim to provide a unified voice to engage the government and industry, particularly in regard to the internationalisation of the higher education sector.

This collaboration between the British Council and the Commission on Higher Education aims to provide capacity and funding support for Philippine higher education institutions to establish international connectivity and engagement through developing TNE partnerships with institutions in the UK. Under this two-year project, each Philippine university will receive a seed funding of PHP 5 million for the development of their TNE programmes and is allowed to pursue up to two partnerships.

All 10 Philippine universities, along with the British Council and CHED, are participating at the Going Global 2017 in London on 22 to 24 May.