British Ambassador to the Philippines Asif Ahmad recently revealed that the United Kingdom is convincing local legislators, educators and university owners to allow foreigners to teach or engage in joint ventures here in the country.
During a gathering of Chevening scholars at his residence in Forbes Park last week, Ahmad said the UK made the proposal, “because there is a ban on foreign teachers from teaching here in the Philippines. Like faculty members, the law also prevents the establishment of colleges and universities from overseas”.
“We have been in talks with the British Council and education specialists to make the case for more transnational education. There are legislators in both houses [of Congress] who are seriously considering making amendments in Philippine law to allow foreigners to teach and establish JVs here,” Ahmad added.
He said the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) is a local academic institution that is “very good…but it is the only one [that could match the quality of top-ranking universities in the UK].”
Founded by Washington Sycip of Sycip, Gorres and Velayo-Co (SGV), AIM is an international management school and one of the few business schools in Asia to be globally accredited with the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the world’s largest business education network connecting students, academe and enterprises to advance business education worldwide.
He said Philippine universities have objected to the idea, thinking that foreign-run schools might compete with them. However, Ahmad assures that this is not the case, after meeting with local university chancelors and deans.
“It is not a threat to universities here, and we have convinced them, one way or the other, that it is in their interest,” Ahmad said, noting, “this is a job-creation idea, and not something that will hold back Filipino talent. We have these kinds of schools in Singapore, Vietnam, China and Malaysia.”
He said these British universities offer degrees “in-country”, as there are many under one roof or having multiple campuses, such as Nottingham universities.
Ahmad said Malaysia and China “are very keen [on the idea] that they are closely monitoring if the laws have changed here. [If so, the said countries] will be first to make feasibility studies and find out if they can do something here. This means one can earn a degree from different places,” he noted.
Ambassadors of change
The UK envoy said these ideas to establish foreign-run universities in the country are longer-term missions, “and I hope that you all become our ambassadors in promulgating that, because it is a win-win [situation] for the Philippines,” before members of the Chevening Association, headed by Mike Toledo and represented by Paul Sembrano, who are both Chevening scholars.
A global scholarship program of the UK government, the Chevening Scholarships are prestigious awards that enable future leaders to study at Masters level in the UK for free, at some of the very best universities in the world. Incidentally, four of the top 10 universities in the world are in the UK.
Chevening has produced about 46,000 alumni around the world, including prime ministers and presidents. In the Philippines there are 300 influential and highly regarded Chevening alumni, such as KPMG Philippines COO and former Undersecretary of Finance Noel Bonoan.
Another Chevening graduate, Maria Antonio Arroyo, is the founder of Hybridigm Consulting Inc., a company specializing in matching the needs of Filipino businesses with innovations in biotechnology. It is considered the first biotechnology consulting firm in the Philippines.
The latest graduates the BusinessMirror interviewed include batch 2012 and 2013 member Stephen Co from the University of Cambridge. He took up Science Enterprise, a combination of biotechnology and business. A Master’s degree holder in the UK, he is now an entrepreneur who makes artisanal beer called Nipa Brew.
Co, who is in his early 20s, started his microbrewery facility in Makati City in 2014, a year after graduation. He said it cost him P1 million to start with a 200-liter capacity kettle.
“As an entrepreneur, I have a microbrewery and making a mark in my own field reinventing beer,” the cheery future tycoon said.
“My beer is American-style ale,” he matter-of-factly revealed. “It’s a craft, artisanal beer, but we have to import all the materials. We are looking at using local materials, barley and wheat; however, there is currently none.”
The other graduate is Robert Siy, an economist, whose expertise is solving traffic: “For me, the most important aspect is to use our existing road network, which is equitable and maximizes the use for everybody,” he said.
He explains further by saying that cars carry only a few occupants, while buses could transport more people. Being wide vehicles, they can speed up the movement of commuters. “[We should] discourage the use of cars [and] give more space for people walking or riding on bicycles,” he pointed out.
When the BusinessMirror told him that such is not a new idea, he replied: “I think, we just need leaders who are willing to tell people that this solution may be painful in the short term, but we have to do it for the next generation. We do not want our children to grow up spending more than six hours a day in cars.”
“One thing you might be interested to know is that the British Department for Transport employs more than 40 economists. They set policies for transport nationally in the UK, although the agency that manages traffic in Metropolitan London actually also employs a variety of experts.”
This reporter told him that Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Thomas Orbos, when interviewed one time at a roundtable discussion in the BusinessMirror headquarters, mentioned the agency also employs urban planners to help them solve the gargantuan problem that is Metro Manila traffic.
“It is a related practice, but a different one,” he said, adding the practice here of paying drivers on a “boundary system” should stop.
“One of the most important things is that there has to be an economic reform agenda and assurance that our drivers receive fixed salaries, regardless of ridership. That aspect of their compensation through ‘boundary schemes’ simply creates many bad incentives.”
When told that the boundary system had long been discouraged, yet the practice still exists, Siy said, “maybe our policy-makers should be informed that the fixed-compensation scheme for drivers is the best practice implemented all over the world. I think, everywhere in the globe, people are difficult to discipline. Just setting up Draconian measures is not enough; we have to make good behavior easy to do.”
Doing more as scholars
Ahmad told those in the gathering to “keep the flame alive” by continuing to get in touch with each other through the Chevening Alumni Association.
“The bigger picture I have shared with you is that we need to broaden the international experience the ordinary student has here in Philippines, because you are extremely privileged and fortunate of having convinced us that you could do more as Chevening scholars.”
“What we want is to capture your talents and invest it here in the Philippines, which the country needs. We certainly will require more than one of you, and we will send one who is going to solve the transport problems of the Philippines,” he said, referring to Siy. “I keep pleading for fewer lawyers—but you guys are so brilliant, you keep on excelling in the panel [of expert interviewers]. Maybe we have to continue with lawyers, too—I think, there’s room for everybody,” the ambassador said in jest.
“We have had [among us] a marine biologist, people in the military, and those who have Peace and Conflict Studies. All of you are exceling, possibly with distinction and topping the class. It just goes to show what a great talent pool this country has,” Ahmad added.
If you could just unleash that nationally, imagine what transformation that would bring. That is another reason we have the Chevening scholarship. People who come back really get going, so that you are in places of influence. You could use your knowledge, and then really start to accelerate the development of this country,” the ambassador exhorted to the new breed of Filipino scholars from Chevening.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano