CHED taps DICT for digitalization of higher education institutions

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 30) — The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has sought the help of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to promote digitalization among higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country.

CHED Chairman Prospero De Vera III and DICT Secretary Ivan Uy led the ceremonial signing of a memorandum of understanding for e-governance on Tuesday, with the immediate goal of creating a system for Filipinos to securely access their Certification, Authentication and Verification (CAV) certificates online.

CAV is a requirement for Filipinos who are applying to work or study abroad. The process to certify, authenticate, and verify the academic records of a learner is accomplished by either CHED, the Department of Education or the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

“When Filipinos go abroad and they need their records, you can imagine the challenge of accessing these records across more than 2,000 higher education institutions,” De Vera said. “If you are an OFW (overseas Filipino worker) in a faraway place needing this [CAV], you have to get it physically in the Philippines. There must be better ways to improve on this.”

CHED said it also wants to digitalize the records, databases, and processes of over 2,000 public and private HEIs in the country.

De Vera acknowledged this will be challenging to implement for HEIs in remote areas. He also cited schools in Eastern Visayas that saw their physical records destroyed when Super Typhoon Yolanda battered the region.

“We hope that DICT can help our universities not only design systems but to also secure this data. So that when a manmade or natural calamity hits us again, we have learned our lessons,” he said.

Meanwhile, the DICT aims to integrate CHED into the eGov Super App which will be launched this week. The agency has so far inked deals with over 20 government agencies to help them optimize their processes by using IT solutions.