The presentation of the Memorandum of Understanding held at the Skyline University College in University City, Sharjah, on Tuesday. Kamal Kassim / Gulf Today

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

People-to-people ties between the Philippines and the UAE broaden, with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between a 122-year-old educational institution in Cebu Province, the flagship programme of which is the development of educators, and a private university, established under the patronage of His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Sharjah, in September 1990.

Based on the Tuesday interviews with visiting Cebu Normal University (CNU) Internationalisation director Dr. Janet Mananay and CNU-College of Computing Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Sciences dean Dr. Roberto Corcino, the alliance with Skyline University College (SUC) was primarily two-fold.

CNU was the Cebu City provincial branch of the then Philippine Normal College-Manila in 1902. It was declared a university in June 1998, after a series of transformations, including basic to secondary school and the Cebu State College.

Mananay said CNU president Dr. Daniel Ariaso Sr., with an extensive background in the field of education as well as in the executive and legislative branches of the government, envisions the transformation of the institution of over 200 faculty members, catering to approximately 8,000 students, into the ‘trailblazer in technology, data and smart education centre, particularly in Central and Southern Philippines.’

According to Corcino, the new AI and Sciences College was among new developments since Ariaso assumed the presidency in 2023: “There was also an in-service training for our faculty members early this year; one purpose of which was to revise the curricula and syllabi to include in all subjects, offered across the university, the ethical and responsible usage of AI.”

Mananay and Corcino said that bottom line was that students, faculty members, including all the support and administrative staff, must be both skillful and judicious with the use of AI and inter-related Internet know-how; especially so that the institution, among 117 state universities and colleges across the Philippines, had been granted by the bicameral congress, the largest “budget insertion,” the total allocation of which is Php2.05 billion (Dhs165,095,750).

Mananay said the UAE and specifically SUC came into the picture from the June 2024 meeting of Philippine Ambassador to the UAE Alfonso Ferdinand Ver with Ariaso in Metro Manila: “We benchmark with leading universities and colleges around the world. We want to learn from the best. We learnt that SUC has been a pillar in technology and has a strong School of Computing; and, so here we are.”

Official appointments in the Philippines prevented Ariaso to visit SUC at this time. He signed the MoU virtually on Monday in Cebu City in the presence of CNU executives and administration, SUC-Corporate Affairs head Mohammad Rashid Khaleed and vice chancellor Prof. Mohammad In’airat, and Ambassador Ver.

On Tuesday and from the SUC campus, In’airat signed the MoU in the presence of SUC officials, Ambassador Ver, Consul General in Dubai and the Northern Emirates Marford Angeles, and Philippine Consulate General-Dubai Community in-charge Vice Consul Jim Jimeno.

Aside from the liaison on the strengthening of AI principles and ethical practices, the MoU, valid until March 31, 2029, stipulates the following:

•    SUC scholarship grants at 15 to 50 per cent of Dhs5 million (Php75.9 million) for deserving undergraduate and graduate programme CNU students in the School of Business and School of Computing.

n SUC facilitation of research projects for CNU faculty members and students, including boot camps and short-term courses for CNU employees at nominal cost.

n CNU provision of three-month minimum comprehensive training and internship opportunities for Emirati and non-Emirati students.

n CNU provision of feedback in relation to the contents of courses offered by the School of Business and School of Information Technology.

Ambassador Ver on Tuesday said: “We only serve as the catalyst. We open doors for possible meetings and for this the fostering of academic and cultural connections between our countries and the mutual benefit of both CNU and SUC.”

Mananay described the negotiations as “quick.” It only took almost three months from June that began officially with a series of the exchange of emails, and the August 2024 virtual meeting. She was astounded with the “professionalism” of the SUC administration.