New partnership begins

University of the Philippines, Los Baños is the largest university in the Philippines.

By Rob Levin

A cooperative agreement between College of the Atlantic and University of the Philippines, Los Baños (UPLB) aims to provide increased study-abroad opportunities for COA students and faculty while also raising COA’s name and visibility in the world.

The purpose of the agreement, hatched within the past year by COA Provost Ken Hill and professor emeritus of psychology Rich Borden, is to develop academic and educational cooperation and promote mutual understanding between the two schools. This means research positions, student exchanges, masters and doctoral work, study abroad courses, and other opportunities, Borden said. UPLB comprises the preeminent college of human ecology in Southeast Asia, and staff and faculty there have had a relationship with COA since both schools were founded around 1970 that now promises to become mutually beneficial.

“They have been very influenced by our interdisciplinary ways of teaching and the flexibility in our curriculum, and they have reached out to us to see about ways that their Southeast Asian-centered curriculum could be enhanced by a partnership with COA,” Borden said. “At the same time, they are very networked with both environmental and economic development activities in the area, opening up a lot of opportunities for our students and faculty.”

The new partnership will significantly broaden COA’s curricular offerings for students, Hill said, while future faculty exchanges stand to build cross-cultural relationships and open opportunities for novel bioregional studies.

“UPLB faculty are top scholars but even better teachers,” Hill said. “It’s exciting to think that our students could learn from experts in a completely different culture and region.”

The partnership grew out of the long-standing relationship between both schools and more recent discussions between Borden, Hill, and UPLB professors at several conferences of the Society for Human Ecology (SHE), an international body that both Hill and Borden have led. The 2016 SHE conference was held at UPLB.

The partnership offers both schools valuable opportunities for their students and faculty to expand their horizons, Borden said. He also sees it as an essential expansion of COA’s worldview.

“There is a kind of learning that can only happen when people from different nations and cultures spend meaningful time together. The world has become increasingly connected electronically; however, in-person learning and  working relationships remain incredibly important,” Borden said. “We love having this island as our home base. Expanding our opportunities around the world of higher education and with other institutions concentrating on human ecology is a big part of the future of the college.”