Section 3Sec./Art. 3

Definition of Terms. As used in this Act:

(a) Academic franchising also known as "other instructional side" or "offshore location", refers to a form of transnational higher education (TNHE) whereby a higher education institution (HEI), as a franchiser, from a certain country grants another institution, as a franchisee, in another country the right to provide the franchisers programs and qualification requirements in the franchisees host country, regardless of the students origin;

(b) Academic program refers to a set of courses of study, which when completed, leads to a degree;

(c) Articulation refers to an arrangement whereby students for a sub-degree in one country are guaranteed advanced entry into a degree program in another country if they achieve an agreed level of performance in their studies;

(d) Auxiliary services refer to services that support the delivery of educational services including promotion procedures and activities, recruitment of students, admission, registration, processing of payments, student orientation, and such other related activities, except teaching and learning activities;

(e) Awarding institution refers to an offshore HEI that is in partnership with a local HEI provider of TNHE programs and which awards a diploma or certificate of graduation solely or in addition to the diploma or certificate of graduation awarded by the local partner HEI to students who have completed a degree course or program in the partner local HEI;

(f) Branch campus also known as a local branch or a satellite campus, refers to a campus of an HEI of another country established in the Philippines to offer its own educational programs and to impose qualification requirements, regardless of the students origin;

(g) Distance education refers to a mode of educational delivery whereby the teacher and the learner are physically separated from each other, and instruction is delivered through appropriate communication technologies using specially designed materials and methods, and supported by organizational and administrative arrangements and structures;

(h) Double degree refers to a partnership arrangement or program which leads to two (2) degrees awarded by two (2) institutions;

(i) Education services refer to any study program, course of study or parts thereof that qualifies and enables students to participate meaningfully in social and economic development;

(j) Foreign higher education institution (FHEI) refers to a foreign-owned and duly recognized higher education institution abiding by a prescribed system of education duly registered in a country other than the Philippines;

(k) Higher education refers to any of the various types of education given in postsecondary institutions of learning, and usually affords, at the end of a course of study, a named degree, diploma, or certificate indicating qualifications or skills proficiencies. For purposes of this Act, higher education includes technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions such as teacher training schools, junior colleges, and institutes of technology;

(l) Higher education institutions (HEIs) refer to public and private postsecondary education institutions, which include universities and colleges, TVET institutions and specialized institutions that provide undergraduate and graduate degree programs in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art, among others;

(m) International branch campus refers to an HEI located in another country, a separate country from the country where the institution originated or where the main campus is located. An international branch campus would have some physical presence in the host country; awards at least one (1) degree in the host country that is accredited in the country of the originating institution; and typically have local partner HEIs, as specified in Section 9 of this Act;

(n) Internationalization of higher education refers to the process of integrating international, intercultural and global dimensions into the goals, functions (teaching, learning, research and services) and delivery of higher education;

(o) Joint degree refers to a partnership arrangement or program which leads to a single degree awarded by two (2) or more institutions. The program is jointly developed, delivered and jointly assessed;

(p) Offshore refers to any locality outside of the country where a higher program has its base of operation;

(q) Onshore refers to the country where a higher education program has its base of operation;

(r) Open Distance Learning (ODL) refers to the merger of two (2) concepts, that of open learning and distance education. It is a system which combines the methodology of distance education with the concepts of open learning and flexible learning. Distance instruction may be delivered by post or mobile phone;

(s) Providing institution refers to an HEI which provides TNHE programs in partnership with another HEI located offshore;

(t) Transnational higher education (TNHE) includes all types and modes of delivery of higher education study programs, sets of courses of study, or educational services, including distance education and study-abroad programs, which involve education systems of a State different from the State where a TNHE provider operates or programs which may operate independently of any national education system or where the learners are located in a country different from the one where the awarding institution is based;

(u) Transnational higher education arrangement refers to an educational, legal, financial, or other system agreed upon formally by partners in order to provide educational services;

(v) Transnational higher education institutions refer to higher education institutions, both local (within the country or onshore) and foreign (outside the country or offshore), offering transnational higher education programs;

(w) Twinning arrangement refers to an arrangement where students study for a degree in two (2) countries, starting in their own and finishing in another, which typically is the country of a partner institution; and

(x) Validation refers to an arrangement whereby the main HEI agrees to award its own degree to students who complete a program from a partner HEI in another country.