In connection with the previous Philippine market news (link below), the British Council has received the report of Dr. Christopher Stevens, Senior Research Associate of the Overseas Development Institute London, on the roadmap for the Philippine education sector. The report outlined the opportunities and challenges in Philippine education, as well as its possibility of becoming a priority export sector. Although the Philippines is lagging behind its neighbour countries, he mentioned that it can still find a market niche and potentially become a dominant player in the region.

Previous article: https://education-services.britishcouncil.org/news/market-news/philippin...

Commentary by Pierre Pecson, Programme Officer for Student, Alumni, and Higher Education Partnerships

Taking off from the four modes of trade in educational services—cross-border supply, consumption abroad, commercial presence and presence of natural persons—the Philippines poises a lot of opportunities in these areas. At the moment, it has the largest number of 20 to 24-year-olds in Southeast Asia and this is projected to increase until 2045, making it a possible region for UK education expansion.

Inbound mobility of students in the Philippines has been steadily increasing. Koreans, Chinese, Taiwanese, Indonesians, Americans and Iranians constitute the top foreign consumers of higher education in the country. Out of more than 2,000 higher education institutions (HEIs), around 134 host foreign students. The biggest concentrations are found in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu. The most popular courses among them are health and allied disciplines, English, education, IT-related courses, engineering, business administration, and hotel and restaurant management.

Outbound mobility, on the other hand, has been low. In 2012, 369 Tier 4 visas were issued compared to 1,259 in 2011. This trend has continued, with only 242 issued in 2015.

Cross-border supplies like distance learning are also present but remains under the radar as most Filipinos still prefer the traditional in-class type. The University of the Philippines Open University is the most notable distance learning provider at the moment, with academic programmes ranging from non-formal courses to doctoral programmes.

For the most part, internationalisation activities in the Philippines focus on faculty and student exchanges. Higher education associations have put pressure on their members to pursue internationalisation by incorporating international programmes to their regular academic offerings and go beyond mere memoranda of agreement. At the moment, research partnerships and transnational education (TNE) programmes are minimal, and are mostly done through dual qualifications and franchise programmes. In fact, less than 0.01% of HEIs in the Philippines engage in TNE programmes. Cost factors are one of the major hurdles as programmes previously ran by other institutions turned out to be unsustainable and thus had to be stopped.

However, an enabling environment for internationalising education in the country is slowly being shaped. After lifting the moratorium on TNE programme delivery, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is expected to adopt a national framework on internationalisation of higher education this year, and will also soon come out with policies, standards and guidelines on TNE with the support of the British Council. In 2016, CHED and the British Council are launching the Philippine-UK Transnational Education Links Programme with the goal of providing capacity and funding support for Philippine institutions in developing partnerships with UK HEIs.

For enquiries, please contact Pierre Pecson at pierre.pecson@britishcouncil.org.ph