Subic Freeport to get $10 M for education center

A world-renowned institution specializing in medical education and medical missions said it would allocate an initial $10 million to fund the development of a self-sufficient education center in the Subic Bay Freeport in Olongapo City.

Officials of the Global Medical Academy (GMA), who paid a courtesy call on President Arroyo Saturday, bared the concept of a self-sufficient university town to be named the Center for Excellence in Education, which will occupy a three-hectare site in the Freeport.

GMA director Bajet Nour, Nour’s wife Kimberly, executive consultant Michael Sanders and his wife Tara Irit, executive officer and general counsel Josephine Merka and Mark Volpe, told Mrs. Arroyo the Center for Excellence in Education will offer internationally-accredited degree programs in the arts and sciences, medicine, maritime training, information technology and engineering.

The Center for Excellence in Education, Nour said, is a self-contained academic community with amenities ranging from cooperative stores, a chapel, covered and open recreational courts or facilities, a movie house and other convenience facilities.

The Center will also have student dormitories and faculty housing.

The GMA officers told Mrs. Arroyo that the Center’s medical program will be accredited by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the governments of the United States, France, Australia and Canada.

"Because its program is accredited internationally, upon graduation, its students are qualified to take the licensure examination in their respective countries — Americans can take their United States Medical Licensure Examination (USMLE) immediately upon graduation (and) the same with the French, Australian and Canadian graduates," they said.

The group said non-American graduates of the Center may qualify to take the USMLE upon passing the test of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG).

They said qualified Filipino students will be given scholarships and loans by the Center. Upon graduation, these Filipino students may also do medical missionary work for one to two years in developing countries under the aegis of the Center.

Mrs. Arroyo expressed elation over the new project and extended her congratulations to the GMA officers – as well as to Commission on Filipinos Overseas chairman Dante Ang – for their partnership, which includes a tie-up with the Manila Times International College.

"I am very happy for this new development as well as for bringing international training education to the Philippines. Thank you also, Mr. Dante Ang, for conceiving this project," the President said. — Paolo Romero