Twenty-two state universities and colleges have partnered with the Clark Investors and Locators Association (CILA) to open the Clark Freeport Zone to a new generation of student interns, in an arrangement meant to strengthen the talent pool that keeps companies invested in Clark.
Under the partnership signed on July 8, Pampanga State University (PamSU) will serve as the lead, or focal institution to take in students sent by 21 partner universities and colleges from across the country and place them in Clark’s industries for internships, exchange, and cultural
immersion.
The partnership rests on two agreements. Through its memorandum with CILA, PamSU gains access to Clark’s locators: the electronics and semiconductor firms, logistics operators, and other enterprises that drive
the zone’s economy. A second memorandum, this one with the 21 sending institutions, gives PamSU the task of coordinating placements, supervision, accommodation, and the exchange and immersion activities that go with them.
For Clark, the value is workforce. The Freeport hosts around 1,350 locators and some 151,000 workers, according to the Clark Development Corporation, and a steady supply of graduates ready for work is one of the things that keeps existing firms in place and draws new investors in. By connecting students from across the country to these companies, the partnership positions the SUCs as a dependable source of that talent.
The 22 institutions belong to the cluster of state universities and colleges under the oversight of CHED Commissioner Michelle Aguilar Ong.
They were tasked to demonstrate a working proof of concept: a live pilot that could support the eventual passage of a national policy on local internships and exchanges, which Commissioner Ong sponsored before the Commission.
That proposed policy establishes a framework for internships and exchanges among Philippine higher education institutions, combining industry placements with study exchange and cultural immersion. It is designed to give students from lower-opportunity regions access to industry in the country’s more active economies, deepen their appreciation of Philippine culture and heritage, and allow universities and colleges to share resources. The framework is positioned as a domestic, lower-cost counterpart to international internship programs, reaching students who cannot easily afford to train abroad.
“Many of our students come from regions where industry is out of reach,” Commissioner Ong said. “This brings them to the companies that can hire them, and it lets those companies see the talent our state
universities can produce. If we prepare them for it, Clark gains a workforce it can rely on, and our graduates gain opportunities closer to their reach.”
CHED Chairperson Dr. Shirley C. Agrupis said the collaborative design was what convinced the Commission to move.
“It is true that a state university can do this on its own,” Chairperson Agrupis said. “But a group of universities and colleges doing it together is more effective for industry, because it offers one point of coordination and a wider pool of talent. That is why the Commission en banc approved this as a
pilot – to prove the approach before we take it up as policy.”
The pilot will run through PamSU and its partner institutions, with outcomes to be documented and reviewed as the Commission weighs the broader policy.
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