EU lauds PH’s K-12, academic calendar shift

MANILA, Philippines—The K-12 education system and the academic calendar shift are two steps that would allow Filipinos seeking to get into affordable higher education institutions in Europe, a European Union official said Wednesday.

“The K-12 system makes the Filipino education system more understandable to outsiders and definitely it would make it easier for Filipino student to access higher education institutions abroad,” Julian Vassallo, political counsellor of the EU Delegation in the Philippines, told INQUIRER.net

“It is to be encouraged and to be lauded [because it] brings the Philippines closer to the international standard,” he said at the sidelines of an event promoting EU’s third European Higher Education Fair that will be held on November 15.

Regarding the academic calendar shift that some universities have already implemented, Vassallo said it would help those students looking for academic programs abroad.

“It avoids wasted time [because] students sometimes find themselves in a situation where they would graduate and then they could only join a program abroad 6 or 9 months later because the timings don’t work,” Vasallo said.

“By aligning the study year with other parts of the world it helps a lot. From the perspective of access to education abroad, [the calendar shift is] a move in the right direction,” he said.

The European Higher Education Fair this year will be the biggest with 43 higher education institutions from all over Europe participating and offering scholarship, academic programs, etc. to Filipino students, professors, and academics.

Vassallo said that the number of participating higher education institutions from Europe has gradually increased, from just 24 in 2012 and to 34 in 2013, which means they are finally taking notice of the Philippine market.

“There is quite an ignorance of the Philippine market. Many parts of Europe don’t think of the Philippines as a natural place to go to. Many don’t even know that Filipinos speak English well which [is a key factor] that opens up a lot of doors,” Vassallo said.

He also hopes that the higher education fair will make Filipinos become more aware of the affordability of most European universities in comparison to those in the United States or Great Britain.

“In Europe, they have very reasonable tuition prices. Many Europeans can go to university for free because it is heavily subsidized by the state,” Vasallo said.

“In most of Europe, there is an approach to education that is not elitist. A university degree is not for the rich, they are for anybody who has the brains to get them. Filipinos should look into the numbers and they will be surprised at how affordable European universities are,” he said.

The fair will be held in the Intercontinental Hotel in Makati and will be open to the public for free from 10:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Among the well-known European universities joining the fair are the University of Arts London and the London College of Contemporary Arts in the UK, University of Antwerp in Belgium, Zealand Institute of Business and Technology in Denmark, Central European University in Hungary, Holland International Study Center in The Netherlands, and the Sorbonne-Assas International Law School.

More information about the fair can be found at www.EHEF-Philippines.org