Internationalization: Recalling consortia

"There is immense power when a group of people with similar interests gets together to work toward the same goals." – Idowu Koyenikan

INTERNATIONALIZATION is an activity that has been undertaken by Philippine universities. This is a reaction to globalization. The term, spelled with 20 letters has been spelled as I18N — for the 18 letters between letters I and N, referred to as a numeronym. No less than the Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) has not only promulgated through its memorandum orders for Philippine higher education institutions to internationalize. Its CMO 11 series of 2014 states "It is within the mandate of CHEd to guide students, HEIs and academic personnel in capitalizing on prospects presented by i18n and ensure that further opportunities brought about by the impending Asean integration will help in improving the Philippine higher education system." (https://ched.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ CMO-11-2014.pdf) It has explained what i18n means, and its importance to further the professional expertise of our graduates. It has provided assistance by setting aside funds and negotiating as well for studies abroad and for continuing professional development (CPD) of our academic constituents through scholarships, partnerships, training programs and alliances in various forms actual and virtual. Recently, "CHEd Chairman Popoy de Vera led a High-level Higher Education Partnership Mission to Canada to expand opportunities to engage in academic and research partnerships focused on health sciences, renewable energy, agriculture, engineering and technology, data science and disaster risk management, among others." (Google, April 12, 2022).