LAMUT, Ifugao – Due to compelling shifts in the world of learning, Ifugao State University (IFSU) actively seeks and expands access and participation in various projects in higher education. IFSU considers innovation as increasingly important for overcoming the challenges of globalization, where global competition makes employment even more and more competitive.
Among the Special Projects being participated by IFSU is INNOTAL or Integrating Talent Development into Innovation Ecosystems in Higher Education.
This is being implemented in the framework of the Erasmus+ Programme, KA2 Capacity Building in Higher Education which runs from October 2017 to October 2020, with a total duration of 36 months. The project seeks to build the capacity of partner universities to ensure graduates’ employability and develop students’ talent by encouraging collaboration with external organizations and by providing opportunities for students to actively participate in such cooperation.
Over-all, there are 15 participants in this special project. These are Ifugao State University and Benguet State University from Philippines; University of National and World Economy, European Center for Quality, University of Thessaly, University of Applied Sciences and University of Ulster from Europe; University of Ruhuna and University of Peradeniya from Sri Lanka; University of Hyderabad, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, University of Madras and RK University from India; Pokhara University and Agriculture and Forestry University from Nepal.
Project INNOTAL will help participating universities create a coherent and effective strategy to improve the graduates’ employability, establish and operationalize a Talent Co-Creation Laboratory a shared and equipped space that will bring together students and practitioners of business and industry to work on innovations and business start-ups, establish Student Community Service and Volunteering Center that will collaborate with non-profit and community organizations in order to create opportunities for student volunteering, and put up an online innovation management platform dedicated to university cooperation with external environments Open Research E-Lab which will serve as a platform to provide career information and give access to new proposals and initiatives for collaboration. For IFSU, these twin labs will be set up in what it will call the “Career Development Center”.
To advance the project objectives, IFSU have participated in three Collaboration Workshops, the latest of which was done in Ruhuna University last April 2-4, 2019. It has also conducted consultation with internal and external stakeholders and got valuable inputs that helped IFSU draft a strategic plan for embedding employability in IFSU operations.
Among the things considered include transitioning to a more competency-based learning, integrating entrepreneurship education in every curricula, increasing collaborative research with external partners and introducing innovation training and strengthening partnerships with external organizations.
The current focus is the establishment of the Talent Co-Creation Lab and a Student-Community Service and Volunteering Center. In addition, several reports, more collaboration workshops and training sessions will be organized throughout the project to ensure the objectives are met. All of these are hoped to help IFSU become a globally recognized university upholding excellence amidst its rich cultural heritage!
By Geneva Paula Mae R. Espejo and Dr. Serafin L. Ngohayon
