As the Philippine higher education landscape evolves to meet the demands for talent in green, digital, and care economies,  iPeople moves to close the skills gap for Filipinos by integrating microcredentials across its network of schools.

As the first educational network in the Philippines to integrate Coursera into its curriculum, iPeople adopted the microcredential model early. This positions its member schools to complement the broader national efforts to bridge the skills gap and promote lifelong learning through modular, outcome-based education.

Dr. Rey Vea, Chairman and CEO of iPeople, Inc., shares that iPeople schools – Mapúa University, Mapúa Malayan Colleges Laguna, Mapúa Colleges Mindanao, Mapúa Malayan Digital College, University of Nueva Caceres, and National Teachers College – are already evolving toward greater internationalization starting with its partnership with Coursera.

“This is about future-building Filipino talent,” says Dr. Rey Vea, Chairman and CEO of iPeople, Inc. “Across our network, we’re transforming how education works from traditional four-year degrees to lifelong, stackable learning experiences. Microcredentials form a new learning culture that empower Filipino students to take control of their future careers by building skills and credentials they can take with them anywhere they go. iPeople is proud to help shape that future.”

As part of its strategic “Build the Future” plan, iPeople has placed itself at the forefront not only in applying technology but in understanding the entire knowledge generation, transfer, and application to prepare its learners for globally competitive roles. 

Microcredentials, being designed as fast and industry-aligned solutions, can be deployed in a matter of months to allow institutions like iPeople to respond quickly to emerging demands for specific skills and talents.

“Our partnership with Coursera also makes it possible for us to anticipate emerging roles, and microcredentials can be rolled out in a timely manner so learners can meaningfully participate in the present, which was yesterday’s future,” Vea adds.

To maintain relevance and credibility, iPeople will design its microcredentials based on the Philippine Skills Framework, international skills taxonomies, World Bank studies, World Economic Forum, Coursera, and other sources. Each microcredential will be submitted for recognition of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) or Commission on Higher Education (CHED), aligned with the Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF), and accredited by external bodies to ensure portability and acceptance across the world.

Microcredentials form a new learning culture that empower Filipino students to take control of their future careers–Dr. Rey Vea

CHED’s policy requires all microcredentials to align with the Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF) and follow quality assurance processes for transparency, portability, and industry recognition. In response, iPeople schools issue secure, digital credentials that are tamper-proof and globally verifiable to ensure that their graduates’ skills are recognized locally and internationally.

According to Coursera’s 2025 Job Skills Report, employers are more likely to hire candidates with Generative AI skills. In the Philippines, high-demand jobs that are microcredential-ready include data scientist, information security analyst, software and web developer, among others.

Coursera is now scaled across all six iPeople schools, reaching up to 45,000 students annually since the partnership started in 2019. The holding company for educational investments under the partnership between the Yuchengco Group of Companies (YGC)and Ayala Corporation, iPeople’s Mapúa schools alone have already integrated 367 Coursera courses.

Mapúa University currently ranks 2^nd in GenAI course enrollments among Coursera for Campus in Asia. Because of its significant impact on its learners, iPeople has also won Coursera’s Global Outstanding Achievement Awards – Maximizing Impact Category in 2024. “The YGC-Ayala companies bring a solid business perspective to digital transformation, healthcare modernization, sustainability practices. Their involvement ensures that microcredential programs are not just academically sound but also grounded in real-world industries, employer expectations, and emerging enterprise-level use cases,” Vea concludes.