RIZAL 2nd District Rep. Juan Fidel Felipe Nograles urged the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education to advocate the training of more Filipino scientists and experts abroad.

In pushing for House Resolution 1380, Nograles stressed about a growing interest among national governments to initiate or expand scholarship programs that provide citizens with the opportunity to study outside their home country.

The lawmaker said there is a need to strengthen the country’s higher education sector because the Philippines is sending graduates to international centers to ensure the transfer of knowledge, skills and technology to the different sectors of the economy.

The congressman further explained that with the limited supply of sectoral know how in the country, government has every imperative to send its best and brightest graduates to learn form the best of the world.

Data from the Commission on Higher Education shows Filipinos studying abroad had doubled in the last 10 years, with more than 16,000 students currently enrolled in various foreign universities.

However, the number is lower compared to other Southeast Asian neighbors which had been sending more than triple of its students for foreign studies.

“In order for the country to truly develop into upper-middle income country, government should take the initiative and fund the foreign training of our Filipino graduates,” the resolution stated..

The lawmaker stressed foreign training is an investment in producing experts and towards the development of the economy.