Launched in 2023, the ENGAGE Asia Programme is a biennial, blended training programme jointly implemented by the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP SOLAIR) and the Global Labour University (GLU), a network of universities (including UP SOLAIR), international organizations, national and international trade unions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and various other individuals and organisations, that work together to provide graduate programs and massive open online courses (through the GLU Online Academy), conduct research, publish, and organize conferences, seminars and workshops. ENGAGE Asia aims to empower trade unionists and labour activists by providing them essential knowledge and tools to actively participate in public discourse and influence policy-making and implementation in areas affecting the working people such as labour and global governance, industrial policy, wages and productivity, climate justice and just transition, decent work, gender justice, and emerging trends in the world of work.

Through the ENGAGE Asia Programme, UP SOLAIR aims to establish itself as the center for advanced labor education and worker empowerment in the Philippines and in Asia.

ENGAGE Asia is UP SOLAIR’s concrete contribution to the internationalization thrusts of the University of the Philippines. It is also UP SOLAIR’s public service to the labor movement in the Philippines and Asia.

The development of the ENGAGE Asia Programme was initiated by Dr. Melisa R. Serrano, Professor at UP SOLAIR. Dr. Serrano is also a member of the International Steering Committee of the GLU.

Structure and Contents

The Programme runs for about five months and has two phases: an online phase and a residential/in-person phase. The online phase, which usually runs from March to June, involves the completion of selected GLU Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and selected chapters of the web-based Trade Unions in Transformation on Toolkit developed by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, and online workshops. The residential /in-person phase, which takes place in July at UP SOLAIR, consists of six modules that constitute the programme’s core courses:

Module 1: Global Governance and the Role of Labour

Module 2: Labor and Development

Module 3: Industrial Policy, Wages and Collective Bargaining

Module 4: Challenges in the World of Work and Role of Trade Unions

Module 5: Trade Unions in Transformation

Module 6: Group Research Project (which includes field research)
 

A one-day field study visit at a Philippine trade union is included in the residential phase. The study visit provides participants an opportunity to engage with leaders and members of a trade union, know more about its operations, the challenges it faces, and the strategies it deployed to address the challenges. The study visit allows participants to validate how some of the topics they discussed in the training sessions are manifested in real-life workplaces and in the day-to-day challenges workers face at work.

The medium of instruction is English.

Course Lecturers in the Residential Phase

The course instructors are international and include professors and lecturers from the GLU network of universities, other universities outside the GLU network, and leaders and practitioners from global union federations, international trade union support organisations, and national trade unions.

Target Participants

Participants of the course are trade unionists and labor activists from Asia and the Pacific, especially the young (potential) leaders. Participants are expected to have a good command of the English language so they could understand the lessons, actively participate in discussions, and write short presentations.

The previous runs of the ENGAGE Asia Programme drew 20 to 23 participants from various countries in Asia such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

Certification

Participants who have successful completed the two phases of the training programme and all course requirements are awarded a Certificate of Completion institutionally certified by the University of the Philippines and GLU.

Course Fees and Fellowships

Participation in the programme requires the payment of a course fee which covers the registration fee, modules and learning materials, lunch and snacks during in-person sessions (approximately 15 days), dinner and cocktails in the opening session and graduation/closing session, transportation and lunch for a study visit, and administrative costs. For self-paying participants, accommodation is not included in the course fee.

Subject to a set of eligibility requirements, fellowships may be awarded to selected participants, which cover roundtrip airfare, travel insurance, the course registration fee, food and shared accommodation for the duration of stay at the UP campus (approximately 28-30 days) to participate in the in-person sessions, transportation expenses. International trade union support organizations such as the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, global union federations such as the International Transport Federation, and trade unions from other countries such as the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, have had provided fellowships for the selected participants.

A fellowship award requires, among others, that a participant formally commits to work in the union for at least three more years after completing the course.

The availability of fellowships depends on the support of the GLU partner organizations and the efforts of the organizers to mobilize funds.

Call for Application

The Call for Application is usually released in the second quarter of the year preceding the year when the ENGAGE Asia Programme will be conducted. The closing date for application is set in the last quarter of the year. Notification of the result of application is released at the early part of the first quarter of the year when the programme is scheduled.

The Call for Application is posted on the UP SOLAIR website (hyperlink the UP SOLAIR website) and the UP SOLAIR Facebook page.