Call for EOIs: Transformation Accelerator Program (Philippines)

It is a unique and comprehensive capacity-strengthening opportunity for HEIs in the Philippines to engage in current design thinking practices and develop a high-impact project that addresses critical challenges in higher education. HEIs that are accepted to participate in the Transformation Accelerator Program have the opportunity to apply for a Transformation Accelerator Grant.

The U.S.-Philippines Partnership for Skills, Innovation, and Lifelong Learning (UPSKILL) Program is a five-year initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/ Philippines that will strengthen Philippine higher education and address growing issues of quality, access, and relevance of higher education programs.

The “Transformation Accelerator” is an immersive multi-month program for Philippine HEIs to design, ideate, and prototype transformation projects that enhance the broader higher education community, their regions, and the country to resolve critical challenges in higher education. The Transformation Accelerator offers a unique and comprehensive capacity-strengthening opportunity for HEIs in the Philippines to engage in current design thinking and receive support from ASU. The program utilizes UDI’s IMPACT Framework to anchor the work undertaken. The IMPACT Framework includes the following steps: Imagining (I), Magnifying (M), Proposing (P), Assessing (A), Creating (C), and Testing (T). It also uses ASU’s Principled Innovation Framework to ensure that people affected by the issue or problem under consideration are at the center of the proposed solution.

Project Themes 

• As part of the EOI, interested participants should submit the accomplished EOI Form providing an overview of the challenge they want to explore to address local, regional, and/or national imperatives. Institutions are encouraged to focus on challenges that have the potential for significant community impact, which include but are not limited to:
  • Integrating technology innovatively to increase academic quality, higher education access and enrollment, and student success practices;
  • Building research capabilities;
  • Connecting to local industry needs;
  • Reaching underserved youth and rural communities;
  • Expanding digital capabilities to increase the institution’s ability to facilitate greater flexibility to meet students’ needs while delivering quality programs;
  • Bringing an entrepreneurial mindset into an institution to increase employability and encourage transfer of technology;
  • Evolving programming to better serve learners across their lifespan, including workforce development, upskilling, and reskilling.

Funding Information

• UPSKILL estimates that each Transformation Accelerator grant may be up to USD 35,000.

Ideal Projects

• An ideal project proposal should:
  • Support the vision and strategic direction of the Philippine Development Plan (2023-2028), the Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the HEI, and its community, region, and/or sector;
  • Align with institutional priorities and strategic initiatives;
  • Address a challenge that demands new and innovative solutions;
  • Have potential for significant impact on the higher education sector or its immediate community;
  • Be able to form an effective project team, and dedicate resources to team efforts; and
  • Be able to design a maximum of 18months launch-ready plan for immediate implementation with identifiable and measurable progress.

Eligibility Criteria

• Any Philippine HEI included within the parameters of the 2018 USAID Education Policy definition of a “higher education institution” may apply to the Transformation Accelerator.
• “A higher education institution is an organization that provides educational opportunities that build on secondary education, providing learning activities in specialized fields.
• It aims at learning at a high-level complexity and specialization. Higher/tertiary education includes what is commonly understood as academic education but also includes advanced vocational or professional education. This may include public or private universities, colleges, community colleges, academically affiliated research institutes, and training institutes, including teacher training institutes.”
• Eligible applicants should be:
  • Any public or private higher education institutions following 2018 USAID Education Policy definition
    • UPSKILL will follow the list of Philippine HEIs recognized by CHED or TESDA to determine whether the institution has a unique institutional status. The allocation for the Transformation Accelerator will be limited to one project team per unique institution.
  • Able to select a Team Lead who:
    • Has relevant project management experience
    • Is a staff member or official of the HEI
  • Able to form a Project Team with members who:
    • Have the requisite experience, expertise, and authority to advance the initiative
    • Understands or can hold the perspectives of the stakeholders in the innovation
    • Have the permission and support of their direct supervisors to make time for the work of the innovation and fully attend and participate in UDI-led sessions
    • Demonstrate diversity through representation, cross-disciplinarity, and crossfunctionality
    • Are willing to collaborate and learn with and from each other.

For more information, visit USAID.