Kimberly Capuyan

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) announced on August 28 the launch of a one-year Master in Nursing Education (MNE) program for the academic year 2024-2025 with partner schools, University of the Philippines (UP) Manila - College of Nursing and UP Open University.


This pioneering initiative is intended to cater the growing demand for qualified nursing faculty in the Philippines, as issued in CHED’s Memorandum Order No. 5, s. 2024.

“This is our response to President Marcos’ directive to increase the number of qualified nursing faculty in the country,” CHED Chairman Prospero de Vera III said in a press conference.

De Vera cited Marcos’ order to address the shortage of nurses in the Philippines due to migration last 2023.

Registered nurses with at least one year of clinical experience may take the new MNE program.

De Vera said they “enhanced” the curriculum in line with the recognition of prior learning (RPL) or the clinical experience of practicing nurses.

“That is the most important one. That is a way to convert the practice of faculty members of serving hospitals or have done other things, this is convertible into units. So that they don’t have to go through all the subjects again, but can be converted there,” De Vera said.

The curriculum includes ten courses, for which students are required to earn 30 teaching and practical course units.

Students are also required to pass the comprehensive examination and teacher portfolio assessment.

CHED promised flexible learning delivery and access to advanced laboratories among pilot higher education institutions (HEIs).

“The curriculum, when it is delivered by our universities, determines the correct division between face-to-face and online or distance learning. So, they make it flexible in terms of delivery,” De Vera cited.

“It maximizes the use of technology–technology not just in the delivery of courses, but technology as used in the top nursing schools now because we are pushing for technology-mediated schools,” he added.

The pilot testing will be implemented in 16 HEIs nationwide from Metro Manila, Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Calabarzon, Bicol Region, Western and Central Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, and Davao Region.

The selected HEIs for pilot implementation are the University of Santo Tomas, Trinity University of Asia, Centro Escolar University, Cebu Normal University, Silliman University, Bicol University, Unibersidad de Santa Isabel, Camarines Sur Polytechnic College, Southern Luzon State University and Adventist University of the Philippines.

Also included are the West Visayas State University, Saint Louis University, Mariano Marcos State University, St. Paul University Tuguegarao, San Pedro College Davao City, and Western Mindanao State University.

CHED stressed that private and public universities and colleges need to secure authorization from the agency to offer the program.

It also added that only schools with proper accreditation for their nursing programs and an 80-percent average passing rate in the licensure examination for the past five years will be eligible to offer the curriculum.

CHED conducted a three-day curricular activity aimed at enhancing the capacity of HEIs to offer the MNE program from July 11 to July 13.

Deans, program coordinators, and faculty members from state universities and colleges (SUCs) and private HEIs across the country were oriented on the program’s outcomes, objectives, and content.

The orientation included discussions on practical tools for the implementation of the MNE program in their respective institutions.

UP Open University and UP Manila-College of Nursing facilitated CHED’s MNE design training.