Searca, international universities address food security, climate change
THE Philippine governmenthosted Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) collaborated with international universities for the European Commission Erasmus+ Capacity Building on Postgraduate MicroCredentials for Food Security and Climate Change.
Searca Director Glenn Gregorio called the project a concrete example of education’s evolving landscape as the world enters an era of globalization, giving educators and learners inclusivity and flexibility.
The initiative, spanning 2023 to 2026, aims to deliver learnercentered short-term courses through micro-credentials to address food security and climate change concerns. It intends to utilize advances in digital technologies to develop and offer online modules that will address these two important issues.
Gregorio commended the universities for successfully crafting the project proposal and obtaining funding approval from the European Commission. He said that the kickoff meeting, led by Thailand’s Kasetsart University (KU), “provided directions for participating universities in implementing the project strategically and efficiently in the coming years.”
In attendance were representatives from universities in Southeast Asia and Europe: Institut Pertanian Bogor, Universitas Gadjah Mada and Universitas Brawijaya from Indonesia; Universiti Putra Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Sabah from Malaysia; Maejo University and KU from Thailand; University of the Philippines Los Baños, Central Luzon State University and Visayas State University from the Philippines; Universitaet Fuer Bodenkultur Wien from Austria; and Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen Stiftung Offentlichen Rechts (UGOE) from Germany.
These partner universities also presented their existing micro-credentials.
KU leads the project with Searca providing support as secretariat for the Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources or UC. Gregorio reinforced Searca’s unwavering support to ensure that all outputs will be of quality and delivered on time. During the meeting, resource speakers from the academia, government, industry, nongovernmental organizations and other sectors discussed the need to offer postgraduate micro-credentials in food security and climate change.
Rosalind Amornpitakpun, Climate Change Adaptation Guideline and Capacity Development director from the Department of Climate Change and Environment, discussed the Southeast Asian climate change and food security issues, and the importance of programs about them.
Kanjana Kwanmuang, Office of Agricultural Economics deputy secretary-general, recommended that the content include a basic understanding of food security and climate change, with data made accessible through a public platform.
William Sparks, country director for Thailand from Winrock International, introduced the United States Department of Agriculture, Thailand Regional Agriculture Innovation Network and shared their programs to empower key actors to scale solutions.
Presenting their organization’s strategic plan for 2023-2028 were Rejani Kunjappan, Hao Zhung, Horst Weyerhaeuser from the Wyss Academy for Nature, and Pin Pravalprukskul from the Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific, Explore and Wyss Academy.
KU’s School of Integrated Science and the Graduate School presented their course offerings. Searca shared the results of a survey on microcredential programs in project universities, while UGOE provided insights into the European Union’s experience with micro-credentials.
The meeting concluded with the partner institutions discussing the work packages, deliverables, deadlines, budget considerations and administrative requirements, collectively formulating a working definition of micro-credentials within the project’s context.