TWO FILIPINOS have joined Nagoya University’s Satellite Transnational Doctoral Programs for Leading Professionals in Asian Countries.

Rowena Dorado, a faculty member at the College of Economics and Management of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños, will attend the Graduate School of International Development while Darwin Landicho, research specialist at the Bureau of Plant Industry, will attend the Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences.

Dr. Seiichi Matsuo, Nagoya University president and Tokai National Higher Education and Research System chancellor, said 80 students have enrolled in the program in six satellite campuses across Asia since 2014. Twenty of the 80 have earned their doctorate degree.

In the Philippine campus, 14 students have been enrolled since 2016, including the two new students who obtained their PhD degrees from the Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences.

Matsuo said that NU established the program to accommodate  students who would like to pursue their studies without having to be away from the office for a long period of time.

“The program has been extended not only to government leaders but also to faculty members, researchers, and professional staff of the University of the Philippines, Visayas State University, and researchers from the International Rice Research Institute,” Matsuo said.

He announced the establishment of the NU-UPLB Central Laboratory for International Tropical Agricultural Sciences, which was launched in February 2019.

UPLB Chancellor Jose Camacho said that the partnership is an opportunity to reaffirm the mandate to future-proof UPLB as it seeks to strengthen institutional collaborations of which NU is one of most important partners.