There are more than 2,300 higher education institutions in the Philippines, of which approximately 1,700 are private. USAID has supported the Philippines’ goals of sustained growth of the higher education system by helping these institutions align their research and academics with the demands of industry and improving the country’s science, technology, and innovation. COVID-19 tested the ability of the University of the Philippines (UP) to adapt in a crisis through efforts directed at continuity of learning, research and innovation, community engagement, and communications.
This case study looks at the UP system holistically across multiple campuses and explores the conditions that led to a strong crisis-response to ensure learning continued during the COVID-19 pandemic. The UP, being both a public university system and the national university of the Philippines, prides itself on the diversity of its curricula options as “a graduate university, a research university, a public service university, and a regional and global university.” UP is a large system of eight universities (Diliman, Los Baños, Manila, Visayas, Open University, Mindanao, Baguio, and Cebu) across 17 campuses, offering more than 250 undergraduate programs.