Readiness of Philippine Higher Education Institutions in Virtual Exchange: A Blueprint for Inclusiveness, Diversity and Sustainability

Virtual Exchange/COIL is a new concept adapted in the Philippines from 2020 with developing initiatives from different Philippine Higher Education Institutions. The study aims to assess the readiness, skills, collaboration design choices, student competencies needed in the implementation of COIL/Virtual Exchange of Higher Education Institutions in the Philippines that becomes a basis for a blueprint for an inclusive, diverse and sustainable COIL plan. The research utilized the descriptive cross-sectional research design in a purposive sampling approach among key International Relations officers on 42 universities and colleges in the Philippines. Results revealed participants were mostly in State Universities and Colleges (51%) and private non-sectarian (27.5%) of Region 1 (19.2%) and 11 (19.2%) doing COIL (55.8%) in less than 5 virtual exchange (50.5%) with 2 to 10 partners mostly in Europe and Japan (86.5%) with topics of Sustainable Development Goals (40.4%) and Education (44.1%). Most of the participants were moderately ready in implementing COIL as their pedagogy (62%), that developed intercultural teamwork and learning (90.2%). Moreover, student competencies were perceived to increase problem-solving, global citizenship, critical thinking and communication skills when doing virtual exchanges. Needed improvement of collaboration design focused on creative approach, institutional roles and maximization of technological COIL tools. This research leads to a COIL blueprint integrating outcome based education strategies that create holistic intercultural pedagogy that are inclusive, diverse and sustainable for global competency of faculty and students in the Philippines and beyond.

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