When working with credentials from the Philippines, both the institution and the program must be recognized by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to be considered comparable to regional accreditation at Transcript Research. Bachelor, Master, and Doctoral degrees awarded by recognized universities typically also hold programmatic accreditation.
Private higher education institutions are required to seek permission from CHED to be able to award degrees and to graduate students from their programs. This is identified by a Special Order Number (SON) that appears on the academic records. The SON identifies that CHED has granted approval for that particular program from that particular private institution.
Alternatively, an institution may earn a designation of autonomous or deregulated. These designations last for five years and identify that an institution has earned a reputation for high quality. Autonomous institutions are allowed to establish new degree programs and create their own curricula. Deregulated institutions still must request permission from CHED for new programs but are exempt from needing a Special Order Number. Institutions that are granted these special statuses will indicate that on the transcript with the exemption.
To earn these designations, institutions generally must meet three requirements. First, the institution earns recognition as a Center of Excellence (COE) or a Center of Development (COD) or has Level III accredited programs. The institution’s graduates perform at a high level in the professional licensing examinations. In addition, the institution has maintained an untarnished reputation and has a history of integrity. By earning autonomous status, the institution is exempt from needing Special Orders, but it also has the benefit of determining and prescribing its own curriculum programs and offering new programs at undergraduate and graduate levels without having to request CHED authorization. Deregulated institutions still must request CHED authorization for new programs but is also exempt from CHED monitoring and evaluation activities like autonomous institutions. Autonomous institutions can also offer distance education programs, establish branch or satellite campuses without CHED approval, establish affiliations with recognized foreign higher education institutions, and grant honorary degrees.
Resources:
Commission on Higher Education: https://ched.gov.ph/92-pheis-granted-autonomous-and-deregulated-status-by-ched/ and https://ched.gov.ph/list-of-higher-education-institutions-2/ and https://ched.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/CMO-NO.-7-S.-2024.pdf
Country Report: Republic of the Philippines. Quality Assurance Agency of Higher Education, 2018. https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaa/international/country-report-the-republic-of-the-philippines.pdf?sfvrsn=d7b5fe81_2
Philippine Higher Education, British Council: https://www.britishcouncil.ph/tne/resources/ph-higher-education
Philippines Association of Colleges and Universities: https://www.pacu.org.ph/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/CMO-No.19-s2016.pdf