CDTLink, September/October 2015
As part of efforts by NUS to support the growth and transformation of higher education in Asia, CDTL has teamed up with the University of Philippines (UP) to establish a capacity-building programme which seeks to nurture and enhance higher education leadership amongst universities in the Philippines. The Temasek Foundation-NUS Programme on Developing University Leaders and Educators (TF-NUS DULE) aims to nurture academic leaders who will be able to:
- Advance and sustain a culture of teaching and learning on campus,
- Design, implement, assess and improve academic programmes that cater to a rapidly evolving 21st century workplace, and
- Harness appropriate modes of technology to foster significant learning experiences for their students.
Since its inception in September 2014, over 100 academic and institutional leaders as well as faculty members from various universities across the Philippines have participated in this programme, which consists of a core programme, where delegates attend workshops and sharing forums held in both countries, and a study visit to Singapore.
Core Programme in the Philippines
(September 2014 & March 2015)
Two batches of academic and institutional leaders have attended the core TF-NUS DULE programme in September 2014 and March 2015, which has two components—an 8-day programme for academic leaders and a 3-day programme for institutional leaders. 39 delegates attended both programmes, and they included deans and heads of department from the University of Philippines (Diliman, Los Baños and Open University), Central Mindanao University and Silliman University.
The 8-day programme saw delegates participating in hands-on sessions that helped them discover their own strengths as a leader and how to cultivate and advance a teaching and learning culture in their respective institutions. The other topics covered during the programme included effective ways of assessing programmes as well as discussions about technology in higher education, learning design as well as the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Meanwhile, the 3-day programme addressed issues pertaining to effective institutional leadership and the topics discussed gave delegates the opportunity to sharpen their stewardship skills in order to address management and pedagogical challenges in their respective institutions. The sessions addressed issues such as international ranking and benchmarking, quality assurance in education, and how to support faculty when it comes to scaling up educational innovations.
Study Trip to Singapore
(14-15 May 2015)
The aim of the study visit component of the programme was to give delegates first-hand information about higher education in Singapore through visits to the various universities (NUS, NTU and SMU) and the opportunity to engage in dialogue with practitioners and experts. The conversations centred on developments related to institution building, policy formulation and implementation, each institution’s experience with change efforts in curriculum and academic culture, as well as the processes involved in the designing quality in-campus living and learning experiences for students. 21 institutional leaders from various universities in the Philippines—including Mariano Marcos State University and Mindanao University of Science of Technology—participated in the study visit. They had already participated in the core programme earlier.