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New ASU-led fellowship focused on reimagining higher education in the Philippines

USAID/Philippines Mission Director Ryan Washburn (center, in suit and tie) and CHED Chairman J. Prospero De Vera III (center in white button-down shirt) launch the USAID UPSKILL Higher Education Innovation Leaders Fellowship Program. The launch featured the first batch of fellows, composed of 16 senior academic leaders and higher education officials from across the Philippines who will participate in an eight-month learning program, including sessions at Arizona State University, so they can drive innovatio

There are more than 2,000 higher education institutions in the Philippines, and a rapidly growing number of university-aged students. However, problems related to access and degree attainment put the country at a critical juncture needing to adapt its higher education strategy for a rapidly changing global economic landscape.

To help address that need, the University Design Institute at Arizona State University launched a new fellowship program last month as part of a multiyear, multimillion-dollar effort to transform higher education on a nationwide scale in the Philippines.

The Higher Education Innovation Leaders Fellowship Program is one of the initial phases of the $30 million U.S.-Philippines Partnership for Skills, Innovation, and Lifelong Learning, or UPSKILL Program, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Philippines.

The fellowship program will bring together 16 senior academic officials from across 12 institutions and the Commission on Higher Education in the Philippines — the federal government agency for higher education in the Philippines — to gain new skills enabling them to become leaders as designers within their institutions and serve as ambassadors for change within their respective institutions. ASU’s University Design Institute will lead the fellows through a series of facilitated sessions, both virtually and in person in the Philippines and Arizona.

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