THE COMMISSION on Higher Education (CHED) has granted Certificates of Program Compliance (COPC) to Basilan State College (BasSC) and Sulu State College (SSC) for their graduate programs, enabling more students in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to access quality postgraduate education.

CHED Chairperson Prospero De Vera III awarded the COPCs  to BasSC President Haipa A. Salain and SSC President Charisma S. Ututalum at the CHED Central Office in Quezon City.

“Students in BARMM can now access not only free tertiary education but also quality postgraduate education. They no longer need to travel to other islands or go to Manila to pursue professional degrees and advance their careers, as Sulu State College and Basilan State College now offer high-quality graduate programs,” De Vera said.

A COPC is a recognition that a specific degree program offered by State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) or Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs) meets CHED’s policies, standards, and guidelines.

Last year, CHED issued a memorandum, in collaboration with the Professional Regulation Commission, reiterating that only students from SUCs and LUCs with COPC-approved programs are eligible to apply for professional licensure examinations, in accordance with CMO No. 14, Series of 2019, as amended by CMO No. 09, Series of 2023.

BasSC received COPCs for its Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management, Doctor of Education major in Educational Administration, and Master of Arts in Education major in Educational Administration. CHED also granted COPCs for SSC’s Master in Public Administration (MPA) and Doctor of Public Administration (DPA) programs.

“We thank CHED Central Office and CHED Regional Office IX for assisting and guiding Basilan State College in acquiring COPCs for both our undergraduate and graduate programs. We’re proud to report that all of BasSC’s undergraduate programs now have COPCs. We aim to have all our graduate programs compliant with CHED standards by the end of the year,” Salain said.

“We’re grateful to receive COPCs for MPA and DPA. These are the first two out of seven graduate programs at SSC with COPCs, and we’re committed to ensuring that all our programs are compliant by year’s end. This process is not just about compliance—it’s about strengthening our academic foundation to ensure that our offerings remain relevant, competitive, and of high quality,” Ututalum said.

Notably, 100% of BasSC’s undergraduate programs now have COPCs, while 19 out of 21 undergraduate programs at SSC are COPC-compliant. SSC aims to achieve 100% COPC compliance for its undergraduate programs by February.

“CHED is actively working with SUCs and LUCs to help them secure COPCs for their academic programs. This issuance of COPCs to BasSC and SSC demonstrates our commitment to providing Filipino students with free, quality higher education,” De Vera emphasized.

COPC also serves as the quality standard for SUC and LUC budgets, under Section 10 of the Republic Act No. 10931, the “Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.”