MANILA – The US-Philippines Partnership for Skills Innovation, and Lifelong Learning (UPSKILL) Program will help improve the country's higher education, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said.
During the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing on Tuesday, NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon said the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide assistance amounting to USD30 million for the implementation of the UPSKILL program.
"This is a program of the USAID for a period of five years. They will give us USD30 million assistance," she said.
"Ang palalakasin talaga nito is higher education. So ang major partner nila is CHED (Commission on Higher Education) pero ang NEDA nakikipagtulungan sa UPSKILL program kasi nga ang isa rin sa magiging focus is innovation and NEDA is the secretariat of the National Innovation Council. (This will strengthen the higher education. So their major partner is CHED but NEDA is also helping the UPSKILL program because one of the focus is innovation and NEDA is the secretariat of the National Innovation Council)," she added.
The initiative aims to strengthen the Philippine higher education system for broad-based, inclusive growth.
One of its goals is to strengthen the capacity of the National Innovation Council (NIC) to realize the objectives of the National Innovation Agenda and Strategy Document (NIASD) 2023-2032, which contains the country's vision and long-term goals for innovation.
As the NIC Secretariat, the NEDA Innovation Staff will work closely with USAID in achieving the program’s goals.
"If you strengthen the higher education, there will be a massive pool of innovators in the country," said Edillon. (PNA)
