Representatives from Sweden, the United Kingdom, Korea, Thailand and Malaysia approached the negotiating table with Cebu Technological University’s (CTU) global positioning arm last week, promising agreements sealed before the second quarter expires.
Concrete collaborative motifs drove these dialogues home, with Chalmers University of University (CUT), University of South Wales (USW), Korea Institute of Technology (KIT), Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and Multimedia University Melaka (MUM).
Transnational education, research collaboration, student/faculty exchanges remain the priorities, which articulate key internationalization mandates.
Particularly, Sweden’s Prof. Carl-Johan Carlsson, forwarded the cause of the Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate (CDIO) framework, and that after the Liverpool conference this year Swedish academics would join Cebu Tech for an on-site expertise workshop and more CDIO calibration activities.
As CDIO regional co-leader for Europe, Prof. Carlsson shared that the confluence of Southeast Asian and European narratives is one of the best ways forward, which Director Dr. Veleslie Atanoza agreed for a more silver-lined future of CTU within CDIO’s ambit.
According to Cebu Tech’s Internationalization and ASEAN (IAI) leadership, this link with the CDIO headquarter academics like Prof. Carlsson is a first in the region and would significantly bring fresh takes on that intersectionality.
The meeting resulted from a recent concession that CTU should not only settle for a CDIO visibility in Asia, as European practitioners [like them at CUT] of the teaching-learning strategy are open to a more direct cooperation, IAI Director Dr. Rhodora Magan proved after learning from Prof. Carlsson during the conversation.
USW also shared its drive for a more strategic influence at CTU through its diverse research initiatives (already making an impact in the Welsh community). An initial promise to send academics to
CTU before the year expires was a high note dominating the conversation.
More interestingly, USW promised to explore ways of securing funding to materialize the visit of some CTU academics to the institution’s research facilities in Wales.
IAI leadership hinted at a dynamic transaction with its first-ever ally in Wales, whose laser-focused trajectory, specifically on AI and cybersecurity, has a major effect on Cebu Tech’s increasing interest in becoming the region’s authority on such subjects.
The USW conversation was, in part, influenced by Prof. Michel Plaisent of the University of Quebec in Montreal (CTU’s long-time ally).
KIT and AIT also demonstrated their technology transfer methodologies that would significantly improve CTU’s reception of the innovative praxis in these research-intensive hubs in Korea and Thailand. Some equipment would soon find their way into the main campus’ ecosystem, said the KIT professor.
Finally, MUM latched on to the prospect of having to encourage faculty and students to deepen their understanding of cultural immersion while studying in Malaysia—-Southeast Asia’s higher education mecca. The MUM link was prompted by CTU Carmen’s Dr. Purity Mata, in hopes that her constituents in Cebu’s northern side could also jump into more global mobilities.
The subsequent weeks have already earmarked follow-up dialogues to essentialize the collaborative platforms even before the signing happens—-a fundamental mantra that the IAI leadership maintains, said Dr. Magan./ IAI
