More students in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) can now access quality and credible post-graduate education as the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) granted Basilan State College(BasSC) and Sulu State College (SSC) Certificates of Program Compliance (COPC) for their graduate programs.

CHED Secretary Popoy De Vera awarded today the COPCs to BasSC President Haipa A. Salain and SSC President Charisma S. Ututalum at the CHED Central Office.

“Students in BARMM can now access not only free tertiary education but also quality postgraduate education. Hindi na nila kailangan pang tumawid ng isla o pumunta ng Manila para makakuha ng professional degrees and to advance their careers dahil meron nang dekalidad na graduate programs sa Sulu State College at Basilan State College,” De Vera.

COPC is a recognition that a specific degree program being offered by State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs) are deemed compliant with the policies, standards, and guidelines of CHED.

Last year, CHED also issued a memorandum, in agreement with the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), reiterating that only students from SUCs and LUCs with degree programs that have COPC shall be eligible to apply for the professional licensure examination in accordance to CMO No. 14, Series of 2019 as amended by CMO No. 09, Series of 2023.

BasSC received COPCs for complying with the prescribed requirements of CHED to offer Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management, Doctor of Education major in Educational Administration, and a Master of Arts in Education major in Educational Administration.

CHED also granted COPC to the Master in Public Administration and Doctor of Public Administration of Sulu State College.

“We would like to thank CHED Central Office and CHED Regional Office IX for assisting and guiding Basilan State College to acquire COPC for both our undergraduate and graduate programs. We are proud to say and report that all of the undergraduate programs of BasSC now have COPCs. Hopefully, by the end of the year, all of our graduate programs will be 100% compliant with CHED standards and guidelines,” Salain said.

“We are grateful and happy to receive our COPC for MPA and DPA. This is the first two graduate programs, out of seven, in SSC that have COPC and we are committed to ensuring that all our programs have COPC before the year ends. This COPC process is not merely for compliance, this is about strengthening our academic foundation to ensure that all these programs that we are offering remain quality, relevant, and competitive,” Ututalum said.

Notably, hundred percent (100%) of the undergraduate program offerings of BasSC have COPC while 19 undergraduate programs, out of 21, in SSC have COPC.

SSC commits that by February of this year, they will obtain 100% undergraduate program offerings with COPC.

“Rest assured, CHED is working actively with our SUCs and LUCs to help them obtain COPC for their academic programs as early as possible. This issuance of COPC to BasSC and SSC is a testament to this commitment of the Commission. We are pushing this because we want to ensure that we don’t only provide Filipino students access to free higher education but they receive free and quality higher education,” De Vera said.

COPC also serves as the Quality Standards for SUC and LUC budgets, under Section 10 of the Republic Act No. 10931 or the “Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act”.

​(SIGNED)

J. PROSPERO E. DE VERA III, DPA

Chairman

Commission on Higher Education