23 state universities and colleges get SEARCA training in research design

A 10-week Online Training on Research Designs and Methods for Higher Education Institutions in the Philippines (Research4HEIs) is being implemented by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) for 23 members of the State Universities and Colleges-Association of Colleges of Agriculture in the Philippines, Inc. (SUC-ACAP). The training will run until March 11, 2022.

The training is conducted under the auspices of a SEARCA-Commission on Higher Education (CHED) project called “Leveling-Up Philippine Higher Education Institutions in Agriculture, Fisheries, and Natural Resources (LevelUPHEI AFAR).”

Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio, SEARCA Director, said the SEARCA-CHED partnership is in step with SEARCA’s push for the government to tap the intellectual capital of higher education institutions (HEIs) to boost food security and economic recovery by fostering a “knowledge economy” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

He added that research must not be done just for academic exercise. He said research should reach out to the needs of society—that is, to produce food, solve hunger and malnutrition, and help transform farmers into profitable entrepreneurs.

The Research4HEIs training is designed to enhance the participants’ capacity to develop a research framework focused on their objectives and hypotheses with a keen knowledge of the conditions under which they are to conduct their research.

SEARCA has tapped the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) faculty members to design and facilitate the training course. It is coordinated by Dr. Maria Ana T. Quimbo, Professor 12 at the UPLB Institute of Governance and Rural Development, and co-facilitated by 13 faculty members and experts in quantitative and qualitative research methods from the UPLB Institute of Statistics and Department of Social Sciences.

A major output of the Research4HEIs training is a Re-entry Action Plan that includes developing a research proposal. The action plan will enable the participants to apply the learnings and skills gained from the training to address specific and practical problems related to their field of interest or specialization, for which they will receive constructive and academic feedback.

The Research4HEIs training is one of two SEARCA online learning events for SUC-ACAP members under the SEARCA-CHED project. The Strategic Communication Planning Workshop: Enhancing Communication Skills for Higher Education Institutions in the Philippines (StratCom4HEIs) is also ongoing and will close on March 14, 2022.