Philippine government signs Transnational Higher Education Law
In August 2019 the Philippine government signed the Transnational Higher Education Act (TNE or Republic Act (RA) 11448 in order to expand ‘access to educational services through the establishment and administration of transnational higher education’.
RA 11448 will accelerate TNE partnerships between foreign and local universities, increasing access of Filipino students to international quality education standards and degree programmes.
The new law mandates the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to establish a dedicated office for TNE that will set a comprehensive national strategy for TNE. While there are existing TNE programmes in the country, RA 11448 opens opportunities for more models, beyond collaborative TNE arrangements, such as franchising, articulation, validation, branch campus, among others. CHED will support the implementation of locally relevant TNE models in the undergraduate, graduate and post graduate levels.
In addition, the new law will grant tax incentives to institutions with TNE, including foreign universities setting up branch campuses in the Philippines. It will also expedite processing of applications and permits such as professional licensing, visa and other immigration requirements for foreign faculty and students.
Presently there are 24 higher education institutions offering TNE programmes authorised by CHED. This includes programmes with nine UK universities under the UK-Philippines TNE Links project supported by the British Council and CHED. The British Council is proud to have contributed to the development of the new law through this project.
CHED is set to craft and issue the law’s Implementing Rules and Regulations in the next 90 days.
Further provisions of this law may be viewed through the Philippine official gazette here