Refugees affected by armed conflict in Myanmar may continue their studies in the Philippines through the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), Batangas State University (BatSU), Lyceum of the Philippines University Batangas (LPU Batangas), and Saint Louis University Baguio (SLU Baguio) opened their doors to Myanmar refugees to study agriculture, engineering, hospitality management, and education.
The participating Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Institute of International Education (IIE), the contractor for the Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship Program (DISP) funded by USAID, in the presence of CHED Secretary Popoy De Vera and USAID-Philippines Director of Office of Education Michelle Chen to launch the DISP.
BatSU catered to 11 Myanmar scholars taking their master’s in data science, as well as bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering, computer engineering, and electrical engineering. LPU-Batangas likewise has five scholars taking bachelor’s degrees in international travel and tourism management.
Meanwhile, UPLB has four scholars from Myanmar who are taking a Master’s degree in natural resource conservation and a graduate diploma in environmental planning. Finally, SLU Baguio has 11 scholars taking up bachelor’s degrees in nursing and secondary and special needs education, as well as a master’s in inclusive language education.
Currently, DISP has the largest presence in the Philippines with 31 Burmese scholars studying in different universities in the country. Through this five-year initiative, scholars in Myanmar are given regional and local higher education scholarships and a variety of higher education opportunities via multimodalities in several Asian countries including Burma, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the Philippines.
CHED said another batch of scholars is expected to study in the Philippines through USAID-DISP next school year.
