In 2015, Dr. Jonel Saludes and Dr. Doralyn Dalisay returned to the University of San Agustin (USA) in Iloilo, betting that world-class pharmaceutical research could be developed outside traditional global hubs. Their work builds on a little-known historical link: soil samples from Iloilo contributed to the discovery of erythromycin more than 70 years ago, though the breakthrough was developed abroad.

“Historically, erythromycin came from Iloilo, but it was developed overseas,” said Dr. Dalisay. “Today, Filipinos are leading the science and making discoveries at home.”

Supported by the Department of Science and Technology’s Tuklas Lunas Program, the researchers began exploring marine sediments across the Philippine archipelago, from Batanes to the Sulu Sea and southern Mindanao. Their efforts led to the discovery of Streptomyces carlesensis, a salt-tolerant marine bacterium isolated from deep-sea sediments in the Visayan Sea that shows strong activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

The discovery resulted in the University of San Agustin’s first Philippine patent, covering methods for culturing and extracting antimicrobial compounds. Several natural products derived from the strain are now in the patent pipeline, including candidates with potential oncology applications.

Research capabilities were significantly strengthened in 2022 with the establishment of the first Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) laboratory in the Visayas under the Tuklas Lunas Program, reducing costs and turnaround time for compound identification.

The university has also built a biobank of more than 3,000 marine sediment specimens, creating a long-term resource for pharmaceutical research and development.

Beyond discovery, USA has focused on commercialization through its Innovation and Technology Support Office (ITSO). Through partnerships with Pharma GalenX Innovations, Inc., university-developed technologies have been translated into market-ready products, including skincare and wound-care solutions derived from natural compounds.

Established in 2018, the USA ITSO operates under the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines’ national program and has received multiple IPOPHL recognitions for patent filing, technology transfer, and intellectual property management.

Today, the University of San Agustin is one of fewer than 30 Tuklas Lunas Centers nationwide, reinforcing Iloilo’s role as a regional hub for natural medicine and drug discovery and highlighting how innovation-led growth can be built from Philippine shores.

Organized by the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines, together with the Embassies of EU Member States, EHEF 2025 highlights new academic pathways, collaborations, and opportunities for Filipinos seeking to pursue higher learning in Europe.

For the first time, Latvia, Romania, and Slovakia will join EHEF’s expanding network of participating EU Member States—offering Filipino students an even broader range of programs and academic disciplines to explore.

This year’s fair will also feature institutions from the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, and Sweden, showcasing Europe’s diverse and globally recognized educational landscape.

More than 97 European higher education institutions, embassies, and cultural organizations will take part in this year’s fair—providing direct engagement with students, educators, and researchers from across the Philippines.

New Programmes and Deepened Collaboration

EHEF 2025 introduces several new programme sessions, including presentations from the Copernicus Programme—the EU’s flagship Earth Observation initiative—and EURAXESS, which supports researcher mobility and career development.

A special session on Erasmus+ Capacity Building for Higher Education (CBHE) will highlight the EU’s ongoing commitment to innovation, collaboration, and capacity-building within the Philippine higher education system.

Focused information sessions will further connect academic and institutional groups, ensuring greater alignment and impact for participants and partner schools.

EU’s Continued Commitment to Education and Cultural Exchange

“Each year, EHEF grows not just in size but also in depth. With new EU Member States joining and new programme sessions expanding our offerings, we are opening more pathways for Filipino students and researchers to connect, learn, and thrive in the EU,” said H.E. Massimo Santoro, European Union Ambassador to the Philippines.

“This reflects the EU’s continuous dedication to making education a bridge between nations and cultures,” he added.

Throughout the fair, participating universities and EU representatives will present a wide array of degree programs, scholarships, and research opportunities designed to support Filipino students in pursuing their academic goals in Europe.

Why Study in the EU?

Studying in the European Union means more than just earning a degree—it’s about discovering the world through knowledge and culture. Students can learn new languages, immerse themselves in diverse communities, and engage with programs rooted in innovation, inclusivity, and real-world application.

EU universities empower students to explore their passions beyond traditional disciplines, nurturing future leaders with global perspectives.

Strong Support from Philippine Institutions

EHEF 2025 is supported by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and regional hub universities including:

• University of Santo Tomas (Metro Manila)
• University of the Cordilleras (Luzon)
• Eastern Visayas State University (Visayas)
• Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan (Mindanao)

University partners include: Ateneo de Davao University, Caraga State University, De La Salle University, Far Eastern University, Holy Cross of Davao College, Lyceum of the Philippines–Manila, Mindanao State University–Iligan Institute of Technology, Pampanga State Agricultural University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, University of San Agustin, University of the Philippines Manila, and Visayas State University.

Professional organization partners include the National Academy of Science and Technology–Philippines, Philippine Architecture School Association, Philippine Computer Society, Philippine Economic Society, and United Architects of the Philippines.

The EHEF 2025 will be held November 21-22 at the Midtown Atrium, Robinsons Manila, with online sessions on November 24, for those unable to attend in person.

For more information about EHEF 2025, visit www.ehefphilippines.com or follow @EHEFPhilippines on Facebook, Instagram, and X for the latest updates.

Coursera, the world’s leading online learning platform, announced free versions of Coursera for Campus and upgraded features to address the critical and long-term needs of higher education worldwide. New features allow universities to deliver academic integrity for credit-bearing online learning, improve student employability, and author private courses. Today’s announcement builds on the momentum of the Campus Response Initiative, which was launched in March to give students and faculty free access to Coursera for Campus during pandemic-related closures. Currently, more than 3,700 institutions use Coursera for Campus to deliver online learning to over 2.4 million students.

“The pandemic has been a catalyst for universities to make online learning the core of their student experience,” said Jeff Maggioncalda, Coursera CEO. “We’ve grown from 30 universities using Coursera for Campus to over 3,700 in just seven months, and these upgrades will help them better deliver for-credit online learning and job-relevant skills for their students.”

With three offerings, Coursera for Campus is committed to supporting students and institutions in every stage of online learning:

• The Student plan gives every university student free access to unlimited Guided Projects for hands-on learning and one course annually*. Like all learners on the Coursera platform, students can gain job-relevant skills at their own pace with mobile and offline access. They will also have access to the online help center.
• The Basic plan provides up to 20,000 free student licenses to every university. Every license includes access to unlimited Guided Projects and one course annually*. This long-term free offering includes basic plagiarism deterrence features and access to the online help center.
• The Institution plan provides unlimited Guided Projects and unlimited course enrollments for each student license. It also enables universities to author, grade, and manage for-credit online learning programs with enhanced academic integrity.

The upgraded features of Coursera for Campus enable universities to:

Deliver credit-bearing online learning with advanced academic integrity features

As universities look to build long-term online learning programs for students, they must ensure their experience meets the academic rigor of campus learning. Coursera for Campus now offers academic integrity features that enable universities to deliver credit-bearing online learning.

Faculty can now administer secure, high-stakes exams and detect plagiarism in assignments on Coursera for Campus. It supports online proctoring with integrations like ProctorU and allows exams to be timed and scheduled. Over the next few months, Coursera will enhance exam security with third-party ID verification tools. For assignments, integrations with tools like Turnitin auto-detect plagiarism for both students and graders. Students can check their Similarity Score before submitting an assignment. Faculty can view all suspected and confirmed plagiarism incidents in Gradebooks. The platform also supports plagiarism deterrence by disabling URL sharing and copying of peer reviews.

Question Banks make it easy to author rigorous, custom assessments at scale. Faculty can create assessments with any combination of auto-graded multiple choice and manually-graded essay questions. They can privately author questions and randomize them based on learning objective and difficulty level. This feature will roll out widely by the end of the year.

Improve student employability with job-relevant learning

The pandemic has placed enormous pressure on job opportunities, and students need to graduate with high-demand skills to gain employment. Using Coursera for Campus, universities can help students gain marketable skills with Professional Certificates from industry educators like Google, IBM, Facebook, Intuit, Salesforce, and Amazon. Launched in March, Guided Projects give students hands-on experience with tools like Python, SQL, HTML, Jupyter Notebooks, Java, R, Tensorflow, and Google Analytics. Students can learn these skills in under two hours and apply them in interviews and on-the-job.

Skills development analytics in Coursera for Campus can help faculty track student progress and close employability skills gaps. They can also use skill-based Academies on Coursera to help students develop skill sets required for specific job roles.  

Build blended online learning programs with ready-made courses and private authoring tools

With online learning now core to the student experience, universities need an effective way to create and curate high-quality online curricula. In addition to 4,200 ready-made online courses from leading universities and companies, faculty now have access to the same powerful authoring platform as Coursera’s university content partners. They can efficiently build custom courses, hands-on projects, assessments, and even embed Zoom recordings with Live2Coursera. Strategies and resources for effective online teaching are also available on the Coursera Teaching Center

Over the coming months, Coursera will roll out a new curriculum tool that will help faculty curate Coursera content to fill curriculum gaps, teach new specialties, and focus programs on specific disciplines or difficulty levels.

Coursera for Campus also offers administrative tools and LMS integrations that allow faculty to manage the end-to-end student experience in one platform. Student scores are auto-tracked in Gradebooks and custom filter analytics are available to drive performance insights. Faculty can also auto-enroll students in custom course sequences with fixed scheduling capabilities coming next year.

Bridge the digital divide with mobile learning that can be downloaded and viewed offline

Coursera for Campus helps universities equally serve students including those with limited connectivity, bandwidth, and devices. 70% of Coursera for Campus students used a mobile device for their learning during the pandemic. With mobile and offline learning, students can download courses, synchronize progress and quizzes, take notes with highlights, and calendar sync – all optimized for low data consumption. The platform also includes digital-first engagement tools to maximize learning effectiveness like bite-size videos, in-browser programming assignments, and Guided Projects for hands-on learning.

With Coursera for Campus, universities in the Philippines served more than 20,000 students who have enrolled in over 157,000 courses. Higher education institutions have used Coursera for Campus to enable continuous learning, offer supplemental content to their degree programs, and prepare students for jobs and internships. Among them are leading institutions like Mapua University, University of San Agustin and University of Santo Tomas.

“The pandemic has underlined the limitations of the traditional education model. The future of education is blended, stackable, and accessible. Our commitment to providing flexible learning and scaling our digital capability started a few years ago, and the Coursera partnership has been a key contributor to our transformation journey, said Dr Bonifacio T. Doma, EVP Academic Affairs, Mapua University, Philippines. “We have successfully offered micro-credentials and job-relevant courses to our students, preparing them for global opportunities in high demand fields. The addition of new features on Coursera for Campus platform is a step in the right direction.”

With today’s launch, Coursera for Campus is ready to meet the enduring needs of higher education institutions worldwide. For more information about each offering, visit www.coursera.org/campus.

*Some course exclusions apply.