Immersion pushed to address work-skills mismatch

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is pushing its Sectoral Engagement Grants program, which provides incentives to teaching and non-teaching personnel of colleges and universities to undergo industry work immersion.

Under the CHED’s K to 12 transition program, the grants provide opportunities and financial incentives for displaced college teaching and non-teaching personnel to conduct immersion work, commissioned research, and extension activities with CHED-approved partners nationwide.

Academe-industry partnerships will enable the country’s higher education institutions to be updated with the latest trends and keep up with the demands of both the private and public sectors, CHED chair Patricia Licuanan said.

“We continue to address the prevalence of jobs-skills mismatch by giving our institutions opportunities to collaborate and form partnerships with industries. We need to enhance industry-relevant knowledge and skills in our undergraduate programs to ensure that our students are fully prepared to join the labor market,” Licuanan said.

“Through immersion work, our faculty get to practice what they teach and apply their academic expertise outside of the classroom. At the same time, their knowledge is updated with industry field experience which their students will surely benefit from,” she added.

CHED recently spearheaded the 2nd Multisectoral Partnership Building conference at the AIM Conference Center Manila, bringing together partners from industry, civil society and government sectors to promote academic linkages.

The event provided a venue for ongoing and potential grantees and partners of the grants program to interact and share experiences, challenges and best practices during the program’s first year of implementation.

Fourth-quarter nominations for the Sectoral Engagement Grants are now open.

Higher education institutions may nominate their deloaded faculty and staff to do immersion work with over 118 partners from the industry, civil society, and government sectors.

The partners include Globe Telecom, Ayala Foundation, Enrique Zobel Foundation, Department of Trade and Industry and Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Deadline for nominations is on Oct. 31.