Australian TH&E education quality assurance agency, THE-ICE, have signed a history-making MoU in the Philippines.

During a recent visit to the Philippines, THE-ICE CEO Ms Pauline Tang and General Manager Jane Gentle were invited to meet with the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (PACUCOA), a private national accreditation agency that provides formal recognition of educational institutions by attesting that their academic programmes maintain excellence across educational operations.

As the battle for “world class excellence” accelerates, the two agencies cemented their relationship through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with a view to creating a partnership that enables joint accreditation of Filipino institutes that specialise in tourism, hospitality, events and culinary arts (TH&E) higher education. THE-ICE Executive Team, along with Deputy Chair of THE-ICE Board Dr Craig Thompson and Company Secretary Mam Christina Aquino, met with the PACUCOA Board of Directors and Commissioners, including Chairman Dr Conrado E. Iñigo, Vice Chair Dr Esther B. Vedaña, Executive Director Dr Adlai C. Castigador, Treasurer Dr Rosita L. Navarro and Auditor Dr Flordeliza A. Castro.

The Philippines are global leaders in terms of the number of higher education institutions that specialise in TH&E, with an astonishing 1388 public and private institutions, over 250,000 students enrolled, and over 45,000 graduating students in AY2016-2017.

With many countries sharing common concerns about the performance of their higher education systems, this new partnership is the first step in paving the way for joint accreditation in an effort to recognise excellence in TH&E higher education in the Philippines through quality assurance, accreditation and benchmarking.