About ERDT

The ERDT Consortium

The ERDT is a consortium of eight-member universities in the Philippines that offer mature Master’s and doctoral degrees in various engineering fields.

Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), Central Luzon State University (CLSU), De La Salle University (DLSU), Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT), Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT), University of the Philippines (U.P.) Diliman, U.P. Los Baños and University of San Carlos (USC) constitute the consortium.

ERDT logo

ERDT Logo

The logo conveys the role of the consortium in the development of Engineering in the Philippines. The color composition resembles that of the Philippine national flag to promote the local engineering research and innovation. The hands along with the other symbols imply the strengthening partnership among the consortium members, affiliated agencies and different stakeholders in improving the quality of engineering research and education in the Philippines.

Objectives

The ERDT is created to deliver high impact researches aligned with the country’s National Science and Technology Plan (NSTP) and the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP), to attain a critical mass of MS and PhD graduates, to upgrade the qualifications of practicing engineers, and to develop a culture of Research and Development (R&D).

Structure

Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is the funding agency approving the budget for the ERDT HRD. The DOST secretary is the overall leader of the ERDT–HRD.

Department of Science and Technology Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) is the agency which monitors the ERDT scholarship program, recommends the approval of the ERDT budget, approval of the list of awarded scholars, appointments of visiting professors, postdoctoral fellows and other similar matters related to ERDT-HRD to the DOST Secretary.

Consortium University is the group of universities implementing the ERDT Program; in charge of attracting Filipino engineers to pursue graduate studies under the ERDT program, selecting the best minds to be awarded with the scholarship, monitoring the activities of the scholars, and have the responsibility to increase the number of graduates under the ERDT program.

Program Leader is the Dean of College of Engineering UP Diliman; overall leader and coordinator of the ERDT Program implemented by the ERDT Consortium Universities.

Project Leaders are from the College of Engineering of the Consortium Universities who are in charge of the overall operations of the ERDT program in each unit.

Steering Committee is the body composed of the ERDT Program Leader and Project Leaders deciding on matters related to the ERDT program such as, but not limited to, tuition fee, implementing guidelines, and recommends policies to the DOST SEI for approval by the Program Advisory Council and DOST Secretary.

Program Advisory Council (PAC) is the council of officials from DOST composed of the Secretary, Undersecretary for Science and Technology, Director of DOST SEI, Director of DOST PCIEERD, ERDT Program Leader and two (2) private sector representatives. The PAC decides on the direction of the R&D agenda to be implemented by the Consortium Universities through the ERDT Scholar’s thesis and dissertations, decides on ERDT policies and on special matters on the appointments of visiting professors, faculty development through the PhD Fellowship component of ERDT, Postdoctoral Fellowship and other related matters such as extension (under meritorius cases) as endorsed by the implementing unit (consortium University) or the Fellowship and Scholarship Screening Committee.

Fellowship and Scholarship Screening Committee is the body composed of the chairmen, directors and program coordinators of the the Departments, Institutes and Programs of the ERDT graduate programs in the University of the Philippines Diliman primarily deliberates on the academic matters related to the local and foreign ERDT scholarship, ERDT research dissemination program, ERDT visiting professor and postdoctoral program. This includes, but not limited to, requests for extension of scholarship, request for the release of funds for research, research dissemination, thesis or dissertation grants. FSSC shall endorse the approval for the extension for foreign scholarships, visiting professor and postdoctoral appointment, and PhD Sandwich Program award to the DOST-SEI for approval by the PAC and DOST Secretary.

Department Selection Committee is the body appointed by the Project Leader to process the application for the ERDT scholarship and recommends to the Project Leader a list of accepted scholars, which shall be forwarded to the DOST-SEI for final approval.

The structure of the ERDT Program is described in the following Figure.