20 March 2025

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) commends University of the Philippines Manila (UP Manila) and University of the Philippines Los Baños for their strong and active efforts to ensure that their academic programs are quality assured.

Following the signing of CHED and Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) of the joint circular to ensure quality assurance among board programs of Philippine higher education institutions (HEIs) last week, UP Manila and UP Los Baños strengthened their initiatives to secure national, regional, and international quality assurance certifications to show that their degree programs will continue to produce world class professionals

The CHED-PRC joint circular establishes a stricter framework requiring state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local universities and colleges (LUCs) to obtain the Certificate of Program Compliance (COPC) or an equivalent CHED-recognized national or international quality assurance certification.

“UP Manila and Los Baños showed leadership as National University by having their programs quality assured, with documentation, based on national and international standards. They now serve as an example for other state universities and colleges to subject their degree programs to quality assurance processes and ensure proper documentation because quality assurance should be documented not assumed,” CHED Secretary Popoy De Vera said.

“We pursue quality assurance from local and international accrediting bodies to ensure that as the national health sciences center, UP Manila can serve the Filipino people through our world-class programs and alumni,” Chancellor Michael Tee said.

In recognition of the strong quality assurance mechanisms of UP Manila and UP Los Baños, CHED granted the institutions exemption from the COPC requirement set jointly by the PRC and CHED that determines whether graduates will be allowed to proceed for licensure examinations.

Eleven board programs of UP Manila are now exempted from the COPC requirement and are assured of admission to their respective licensure examinations.

The 11 board programs that were exempted from the CoPC are: Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Dental Medicine, Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy, Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy, Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy, Bachelor of Science in Public Health, Bachelor of Science in Speech Pathology, and Diploma in Midwifery.

CHED has set a non-extendible deadline for COPC compliance until September 2025 and to prioritize board programs.

(SIGNED)
J. PROSPERO E. DE VERA III, DPA
Chairman
Commission on Higher Education