“Linkages is not about the number of partners you have, but the depth of your relationships with your partners.”

 This was how Atty. Lily Freida C. Macabangun-Milla, director of the Commission on Higher Education International Affairs Staff (CHED IAS), described linkages during the 2023 ASEAN Festival and Awarding Ceremony with the theme “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth” held in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan on Oct. 12, 2023.

At the event, Saint Mary’s University was awarded as one of the most responsive ASEAN Higher Education Institutions in Region 2. Three Marian students were also recognized for winning in the competitions held during the ASEAN Month celebration. Nathalie Kaye Dasigan, 4th year BS Architecture, garnered 1st place in the poster-making competition, and Isaac Divina and Jaevren Valdez topped 2nd in spoken word poetry. The students were accompanied by Ms. Rheena Nina Salinas, STEH promotion and linkage coordinator.

Also awarded during the event was Dr. Clara Gonzales, head of the SMU Promotions, External Relations, and Internationalization Office (PERIO), for sharing her expertise as a resource speaker on internationalization and borderless education.

Atty. Milla highlighted the importance of transcending boundaries through education by engaging in various internationalization activities in ASEAN or beyond. She asserted that academic institutions should not be caged in their comfort zones but must dare to upskill their worldview. Despite the broad scope of multicultural literacy, she said that this must be an instrument for all of us to collaborate by achieving our unified objective to transcend educational boundaries equally.

Thus, she emphasized that we have the responsibility to deepen our purpose with the linkages we have and move beyond the confines of a local level because outside, these frontiers are endless experiences and knowledge waiting to be explored.

The event was organized by CHED Region 2 and participated in by the different HEIs in the region. (Written by Ms. Rheena Nina Salinas, STEH promotions and linkage coordinator)