Philippines to cash in on ‘education tourism’

11 July 2007

The Philippines, following intensive efforts to promote medical tourism in the country, has now launched measures to attract Asian students to its colleges and universities. The so-called ‘education tourism’ is targeting students from China and India to join the thousands of Taiwanese and Korean students already in the Philippines for short-term courses or full college degrees.

Carlito Puno, chairman of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), is leading the Philippines’ efforts at ‘education tourism.’ In June 2007, the Philippines government and the Education Ministry of China signed a memorandum that would welcome and allow Chinese students ho are not able to enroll in Chinese universities to pursue their studies in the Philippines.

The government of the Philippines claims that the country is a good option for foreign students since it offers tertiary education system and proficiency
in English language that is of good quality at comparatively cheap rates.

According to the Commission on Higher Education, by September 2007, a batch of over 1,500 Indian students are due to arrive and enroll in colleges and universities in the Philippines. Currently, over 100,000 Koreans are in the Philippines pursuing mostly English-language courses.

Observers feel that, with the anticipated increase in enrollment as ‘education tourism’ is being pursued aggressively, the Commission on Higher Education has yet to supplement its policies and guidelines pertaining to handling of foreign students.

Already in place is EO 285, which, among others, stipulates that only colleges and universities recognized by the Federation of Accrediting Agencies in the Philippines or with equivalent accreditation from the Commission on Higher Education and the Bureau of Immigration are allowed to admit foreign students.

The Commission on Higher Education has identified ideal educational institutions and course programs for both local and foreign students by designating higher education institutions as either Centers of Excellence or Centers of Development.

The Centers of Excellence and Centers of Development are intended to provide institutional leadership in the development of specific disciplines by
providing networking arrangements to help ensure accelerated development of higher education institutions in their respective service areas.

The Philippines authorities are contemplating more specific and updated guidelines with a view to protecting the niche market of ‘education tourism’ the way Thailand did with its billion-dollar medical tourism.

Even before the initiative taken by the Commission on Higher Education, short-course classes, particularly in the English language, had received a boost in the Philippines.

Taking advantage of the Philippines’ reputation as the largest English-speaking country in Asia, the Tourism Department has organized innovative
English-language classes-cum-tourism program called the English Second Language Tour Program, in which English-language lessons form part of a tour package.