Gov’t allots P500M for SUCs

MANILA, Philippines – At least P500 million has been earmarked for the state universities and colleges'(SUCs) research and development, the Commission on Higher Education announced Tuesday.

The CHED said that the universities are expected to use the amount for the innovation of Algae Research and Commercialization, Disaster Science and Management, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for cloud computing and software-as-a service, Responsible Mining Technologies and Precision Farming and Smart Agriculture.

The recipients are expected to contribute to the research in the sectors of Agriculture and Fishery, Tourism and Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO).

The Agriculture and Fishery sector are expected to be contributors for Region 4-A, Region 6, Region 10 and Region 12.

The tourism sector is going to prioritize the frequently visited tourist destinations in the country such as Boracay Island, Tagaytay, Cebu, Laguna, Batangas, Cavite, Bohol, Subic and Clark Pampanga, Palawan and Davao.

In the BPO sector the priority will be in areas called the “Next Wave Cities” such as Davao; Santa Rosa, Laguna; Bacolod City; Iloilo City; Metro Cavite; Lipa, Batangas; Cagayan de Oro; Malolos, Bulacan; Baguio City and Dumaguete City.

The CHED said that this is in line with the government’s goal to harness a broad range of vocational, clerical, technical, managerial and entrepreneurial skills under the Philippine Development Plan of 2011-2016.

It added that the release of the budget is the government’s way of making sure that there will be a responsive education and training for State Schools and Colleges.