The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) strengthened their partnership to enhance quality assurance for state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local universities and colleges (LUCs) offering licensure exam programs.
Both agencies recently signed a joint circular, reinforcing their monitoring and compliance measures to ensure that SUCs and LUCs adhere to CHED’s policies, standards, and guidelines—particularly in securing a Certificate of Program Compliance (COPC) for board programs.
CHED Secretary Popoy de Vera said this is in accordance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s instructions “that quality should never be compromised in higher education.” The collaboration with PRC ensures strict quality assurance, particularly for courses that lead to professional careers.
“This partnership represents a bold and necessary step in aligning education and licensure requirements creating a seamless transition from academic preparation to professional practice,” said PRC Chairperson Charito Zamora.
“By strengthening our quality assurance mechanisms, we are paving the way for a more robust, credible, and future-ready higher education and professional licensure system,” Zamora added.
The updated policy reiterates CHED Circular No. 01, Series of 2010, which mandates that all SUCs and LUCs must secure CHED’s authorization to operate board programs through COPC. Under the agreement, PRC will bar graduates from non-compliant schools from taking licensure exams.
De Vera said they informed universities about this five years ago and instructed them to work with CHED regional directors to assess and resolve compliance issues.
“This is not an arbitrary decision. We have been reminding our universities of their compliance with CHED guidelines for many years. Many SUCs and LUCs have achieved 100% COPC compliance, we expect the rest to follow,” he said.
CHED has set a non-extendible deadline of September 2025 for COPC compliance, prioritizing licensure programs.
The partnership aligns with Republic Act No. 7722 (Higher Education Act of 1994), which mandates CHED to uphold quality education standards, while PRC enforces the regulation and licensing of various professions.