On 11 November 2024, the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) Chancellor, Dr. Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria, met with the Indonesia Cyber Education (ICE) Institute of Universitas Terbuka for an exploratory meeting. The meeting was held at the UPOU Headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna.
Prof. Dr. Paulina Pannen, Senior Expert, led the delegates from ICE, accompanied by Dr. Hasanuddin, M.Si, Manager of Partnership and Certification; Caesario Satriatama and Muhammad Iman Saputra, ICE Staff members. The meeting was requested by ICE to enhance our collaborative relationship, explore potential avenues for joint initiatives, especially in MOOCs offering and training of ICE tutors, and exchange valuable insights regarding academic programs and research.
Part of the meeting was an agreement to make UPOU MOOCs and MicroCredentials available to students, faculty, and tutors of ICE, through the ICE gateway. Moreover, they also discussed the possibility of making available the courses offered by the Asian Association on Open Universities (AAOU) and the Open University 5 resources. In addition, ICE requested that UPOU train its tutors to be more adept at developing and delivering courses for ICE students. Prof. Dr. Panne explained that UT currently has about 700,000 students from all over Indonesia and the world, so these courses from UPOU and AAOU would greatly help them. ICE presented the ICE gateway to Dr. Bandalaria and her team, and showed how resources such as EdX and Coursera are also available through their gateway.
From the side of UPOU, Dr. Bandalaria expressed her willingness to share the free courses with ICE, especially on MOOCs covering Graphic Design, Basic Digital Workplace Competency, Basics of Resiliency, Mainstreaming Biodiversity, and possibly
unbundled courses from Arts in the ASEAN, which will be offered as microcredentials. UPOU also shared with ICE the immersive and virtual reality projects the UPOU Immersive Open Pedagogies program produced.
Chancellor Bandalaria was joined by Dr. Joane V. Serrano, Dean of the UPOU Faculty of Management and Development Studies; Dr. Diego S. Maranan, Dean of the UPOU Faculty of Information and Communication Studies; and Asst. Prof. Margaret Jarmin-Suarez, Program Development Associate for Institutional Linkages.
In fulfillment of its mandate, UPOU continues to partner with similar-minded institutions to achieve its goals and further its mission of providing access to quality higher education for Filipinos and the world.
Written by Anna Cañas-Llamas ♦ Edited by Dr. Myra C. Almmodiel
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