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UP renews partnership with German university |
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SURP Research Team, UPD |
Officials of UP Diliman (UPD) and the Technische Universitat Dortmund (TUDo) renewed their institutional partnership in an MOA signing ceremony at the TUDo in Germany on September 18, 2009. This coincided with the 25th anniversary celebration of the Spatial Planning for Regions in Growing Economies (SPRING) program.
The MOA, which provides for academic exchange and cooperation between the UPD School of Urban and Regional Planning (SURP) and the TUDo Faculty of Spatial Planning (FSP) in the joint offering of a graduate program in regional planning under the SPRING program, was signed by UPD Chancellor Sergio S. Cao and TUDo Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Walter Grunzweig. The signing was witnessed by UPD Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Lorna I. Paredes, SURP Dean Candido A. Cabrido Jr., TUDo FSP Dean Hans-Peter Tietz, and SPRING program head Dr. Einhard Schmidt-Kallert.
With its aim of fostering exchange of faculty members, joint research, and collaborations in projects, thesis supervision, and organization of international conferences and seminars, the MOA complements the UP’s policy on “internationalization” and the SURP’s thrust of strengthening international linkages.
The UP officials along with other SPRING partners and members of the SPRING network and alumni attended the anniversary celebrations. Joining the Philippine-UP delegation were Dr. Zenaida Manalo, SURP professor, who undertook a one-term visiting professorship at the TUDo International Spatial Planning Center, and another SURP professor, Prof. Carmelita R.E.U. Liwag, who is currently pursuing a doctoral program under the UP-TUDo academic partnership.
An international conference titled “Urban-Rural Linkages and Migration: A Potential for Poverty Alleviation in Developing Countries?” was also held at the TU Dortmund on September 16 and 17, 2009 as part of the anniversary celebrations. The conference put into perspective strategies of planning and politics which use the potentials and consider the risks of urban-rural mobility and multi-localities to alleviate poverty. Dr. Manalo presented her study on a Philippine regional governance model and its role in enhancing urban-rural economic linkages.
A scene at the reception for SPRING partners from TUDo in Germany, University
of the Philippines (UP), Ardhi University (ARU) in Tanzania, Universidad Austral
de Chile (UACh), and Kwame Nkrumah University of the Science and Technology
(KNUST) in Ghana. Shown representing UP are Chancellor Sergio Cao (fourth from
right), Vice Chancellor Lorna Paredes, SURP Dean Candido Cabrido Jr. (extreme
right), and Prof. Zenaida Manalo (second from right).
The anniversary celebrations also served as a venue to plan new joint projects under the SPRING program, which has been recognized as a pioneer in international academic cooperation and training for sustainable planning in the developing nations. Part of the plan is for SPRING-Asia, which will enter its 15th year in 2010, to promote new areas of cooperation through joint Ph.D. programs, joint dissertation and studies supervision, and recruitment of more graduate students from Southeast and East Asia.
The institutional linkage between the SURP and the TUDo FSP started in 1995 during the term of SURP Dean Benjamin V. Cariño, with the institution of a Master of Arts in Regional Development Planning (MA RDP), which was revised in 2005 to become the current Master of Science in Regional Development Planning (MS RDP).
The first intake of SPRING students at SURP, as the official SPRING-Asia partner, was in October 1996. SURP has since received 13 batches of SPRING students. Financed mainly through the German Academic Exchange Program student scholarships, the SPRING-Asia program has produced 123 graduates, 103 of whom, including 33 Filipino students, are from the Asian region. A parallel program is implemented in other SPRING centers in Africa and Latin America.
A unique feature of this joint program is that courses are taught in Dortmund, Germany during the first year and in the Philippines during the second year when a practical approach to regional development planning is implemented through field work and studies in various workshop areas in the Philippines.
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