Graduate Education and Institutional Development Program

SEARCA's Graduate Education and Institutional Development (GEID) Program traces its beginnings to the Center's Graduate Study Program which was initiated in academic year 1968-1969.

Over the past four decades, SEARCA has expanded the scope of its Graduate Study Program to include institutional development, academic networking, and other services to enhance graduate education in the region. At the same time, SEARCA built up its excellent track record in scholarship administration as a service to donor organizations that invested in developing Southeast Asian professionals working in agriculture and rural development in the region.

To date, SEARCA awarded more than 1,500 scholarships to nationals of SEAMEO member countries, namely: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam to pursue advanced studies leading to master's and doctoral degrees in agriculture, forestry, and related sciences.

For its Tenth Five-Year Plan, the GEID Program's main goal is to produce advocates and leading champions of inclusive and sustainable agricultural and rural development (ISARD) by strengthening the capabilities of individuals and institutions that are engaged in pushing the frontiers of ARD in Southeast Asia.

Providing scholarships and professorial chair grants

Thus, the GEID Program continues to provide degree and non-degree scholarship opportunities to highly qualified nationals of SEAMEO member countries working in agriculture and rural development. These include grants for full graduate programs and PhD research.

To increase these opportunities for advanced studies, SEARCA actively seeks partners and donors for specialized areas of study along its priority thrusts. Currently, the Center is implementing the following joint scholarship projects:

• Tokyo NODAI-SEARCA Scholarship for Dissertation Doctorate
• Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)-SEARCA Joint Scholarship
• DAAD-SEARCA Scholarship
• Philippine Carabao Center-SEARCA Scholarship
• Nagoya University-SEARCA Joint PhD Research Scholarship

In addition, the SEARCA Regional Professorial Chair recognizes outstanding Southeast Asian experts in the academe to further promote academic excellence in the fields of agriculture and related sciences.

Promoting opportunities to enhance higher education in agriculture

For SEARCA to play a key role in enhancing higher education in agriculture and related sciences in the region it serves, the GEID Program also endeavors to:

• Promote internationalization of higher education by sustaining its partnerships with international education networks and forging new ones
• Lead capacity-building initiatives that will strengthen academic and research competencies of universities and agricultural research institutions in the region

Currently, the GEID Program is the focal point for several international education networks to which SEARCA belongs, including:

• Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC)
• Food Security Center (FSC)
• Exchange by Promoting Quality Education, Research and Training in South and Southeast Asia (ExPERTS) Consortium
• Association of Asian Agricultural Colleges and Universities (AAACU)

During the 10th FYP, GEID will also offer the Summer School, a post-graduate enhancement course on identified topics relevant to inclusive and sustainable agricultural and rural development in Southeast Asia. For this year, the summer school will center around Food and Nutrition Security for Sustainable Development.

Institutional development assistance to strategic universities

With SEARCA's keen focus on inclusiveness as set forth by its Tenth Five-Year Plan, the GEID Program is also helping young and strategic higher education institutions with core competencies in agriculture and development disciplines.

SEARCA's Institutional Development Assistance targets agricultural universities that are lagging in academic capacities but are strategically located in economic growth areas and expected to play a vital role in its country's economic development.