Dr. Joefe B. Santarita, Assistant Professor at and College Secretary of the Asian Center, is one of the participants of the International Deans Course (IDC) Southeast Asia 2014/2015, an innovative three-part training course, jointly offered by the German Academic Exchange Service, the German Rector’s Conference, the University of Applied Sciences Osnabruck, the Centre for Higher Education Development, and the Alexander von Humbolt Foundation.

The IDC is part of the Dialogue on Innovative Higher Education Strategies program which aims at strengthening higher education management in developing countries.  For the first part, the program successfully brought together a group of 33 deans, vice-deans and heads of departments from various universities in Southeast Asia in order to prepare them for the challenges of holding a dean’s position in a changing higher education landscape. Issues such as faculty management, higher education governance, financial management, quality assurance, leadership, and internationalization were discussed in the said course.

Dr. Santarita (L) has completed the 50-hour training in Germany from June to July 2014 and will continue to participate in the second and third parts in Malaysia in November 2014 and Indonesia in February 2015 respectively. He was joined by Dean Ann Gumban of UP Visayas, Dean Lourdes Marie Tejero, and Director Arnold Hallare of UP Manila. Dean Rosemary Seva of De La Salle University also completed the Philippine delegates. 

Dr. Santarita also coordinates the South Asian Studies graduate program of the Asian Center. He teaches Masters-level courses on South Asian history, culture, society, and ASEAN regionalism.