MANILA - The Commission of Higher Education (CHED) is expecting to roll out the pilot implementation of the Philippine Credit Transfer System (PCTS) this upcoming academic year.

PCTS is a joint program between CHED and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) that allows credit transfer arrangements between technical-vocational and higher education courses.

“Tapos na iyong orientation natin in some of the regions and there are a lot of universities namin ang very interested. I think it would a very successful program,” CHED Chair Prospero De Vera said.

Through the program, students can progress in their studies without repeating similar subjects if they transfer from a technical vocational institution (TVI) to a higher education institution (HEI) and vice versa, if the courses are related.

A panel of experts from the TVI and CHED will conduct the "matching of learning outcomes" using specific guidelines to determine which specific competencies are equivalent and appropriate for crediting.

PCTS will initially be piloted in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Dentistry, Hotel and Restaurant Management/Hospitality Management, but CHED and TESDA are also eyeing to soon include courses in Information Technology, and Games Development and Animation.

“Some of the credit transfer can be done in the next school year, kasi iyong credit transfer naman, you don’t need a new degree program to open. So you use your existing degree programs but allow credit transfer from those with NCs [national certificate] to come in, not from first year to fourth year, but already convert their NCs into unit credits,” De Vera said.

PTCS is a product of five years of combined efforts of experts, framers and a technical working group from CHED, TESDA, the Department of Education, the Professional Regulation Commission and the Department of Labor and Employment.

The implementation of the PCTS will be reviewed after three years of operation.