17/09/2025
๐๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฃ๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐จ๐ก๐๐๐๐ฆ โ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฉ๐โ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐;
๐๐ฆ๐จ๐๐ฆ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ง๐๐ก๐๐ฆ ๐ช๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฆ
Education leaders, government officials, and partner institutions gathered at the Manila Hotel today, September 15, 2025, for the โConverge to Achieve: The Higher Education Summit,โ where ISUFST President Dr. Nordy Siason, Jr., joined the call for stronger reforms in higher education. The summit also celebrated the 100th day in office for CHED Chairperson Dr. Shirley C. Agrupis and the launch of her ACHIEVE Agenda.
The Commission on Higher Education (CHED)-hosted summit, themed โTransforming Higher Education, Achieving Together,โ is a gathering of universities, national government agencies, and industry partners working on reforms to make Philippine higher education more inclusive, innovative, and globally competitive.
At the center of the event was the endorsement of the ACHIEVE Agenda: a seven-point roadmap on Access and equity, Collaboration, Human capital, Innovation, Quality in education, Values and Excellence. Dr. Agrupis presented the framework as CHEDโs priority direction for her term, underscoring the importance of shared responsibility in education reform.
The morning program also featured the signing of major partnerships: a joint memorandum with TESDA for curriculum standards, agreements with DOLE and DMW (Department of Migrant Workers) for workforce and migrant worker development, collaboration with the CHR to promote human rights in education, and industry partnership with Unilab to strengthen innovation. These collaborations were supported by messages from Cabinet secretaries and legislators who stressed the value of education in national development. The summit was also underscored by the signing of the Commitment Wall by representatives of several government agencies and institutions, which strengthened the collaborative commitment to elevate higher education in congruence with CHED's reform agenda.
In a video message, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. also shared the roll out of the Presidential Scholarship Program to expand access to deserving students, along with international presenters from analyzing best practices from New Zealand, Malaysia, and Indonesia addressing lifelong learning, distance education, and cyber education with internationally relevant perspectives on reform for Philippine higher education.
ISUFST's representation through Dr. Siason Jr., was a manifestation of the commitment of the university to align to the national higher education system's thrust while taking the ISDA First (Innovations, Sustainability, Diversity, and Accessibility) as a guiding principle. ISUFST's representation further shows it has expressed commitment to the global agenda of supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). (Herman Lagon/PAMMCO)
