SEN Sherwin Gatchalian has sought increased government support for the transition of small- and medium-sized private universities from the traditional to online and flexible learning systems amid the coronavirus pandemic. Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) Chairman J. Prospero de Vera 3rd said there were more than 1,000 small private universities catering to around 525,000 students nationwide. The CHEd chairman said while free software could be used to develop learning management systems, small private universities tend to have a shortage in hardware and manpower for these systems. My fear is if we don’t help the small, medium private universities and more than 50 percent of the population in our universities will be affected,” he added. CHEd, however, seeks to expand the coverage of this budget so that small private universities will also be covered.

Source: Manila Times August 08, 2020 17:50 UTC