Australian Ambassador Yu: RCTQ an example of PH-Australia partnership in action
Australian Ambassador HK Yu, PSM
Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Hae Kyong Yu attended the 10th year anniversary celebration of RCTQ on 18 November 2022 with kind words of admiration for how the Center has exemplified a successful partnership by both the Philippine and Australian governments.
“There are actually a number of reasons why I’m so delighted to be in your company today—the first being how the RCTQ is a fantastic example of a strong Philippine-Australia partnership. It’s an example in action and there’s nothing like that,” said Ambassador Yu at the outset of her speech.
In 2011, bilateral discussions between Australia and the Philippines identified applied research on teacher quality as a priority area for cooperation. This led to the partnership between the Philippine Normal University—the National Center for Teacher Education in the Philippines—and SiMERR National Research Centre at the University of New England (UNE) Australia. The partnership gave birth to RCTQ in 2012.
“RCTQ is one of our most important implementing partners in delivering Australia’s development program to the Philippines which, by the way, is Australia’s fifth largest worldwide. As you can imagine there’s plenty of work that needs to be done still, so I put you on notice for more work with the Australian government coming in and going forward,” Ambassador Yu told the RCTQ team in the audience.
Having arrived and started her post in Manila in August 2022, the RCTQ event was among the first of Ambassador Yu’s official functions. She succeeded former Ambassador Steven Robinson AO who served from 2019 to 2022.
“Quality teacher equals quality education and this is where the work of the Center comes in,” the Ambassador said. “At the heart of any country is a quality education system. That’s why the Australian government has been so focused on education as one of our pillars of cooperation with the Philippines since 1950s.”
“I look forward to many more decades of invaluable research, evidence generation, and policy recommendations that really make a difference as the premier teacher quality research institution in the Philippines,” Ambassador Yu said after congratulating RCTQ and its partners for a decade of work on education policy research.
In his, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian—Chair of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture— thanked Ambassador Yu for Australia’s assistance to the Philippines.
“I’m very happy that over the years, Australia has supported the Philippine education particularly teacher education because teacher education is the most important ingredient in education,” Sen. Gatchalian said.
In her keynote address, Vice President and Department of Education Secretary Sara Duterte congratulated PNU, UNE and the Australian government for “forging a partnership that resulted in the successful creation and sustainability of this research organization.” (RCTQ Comms)
https://www.ritq.ph/?p=3998NewsAustralian government,Celebrating RCTQ Partnerships
