In September 2023, the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP SOLAIR) officially became part of the network of universities of the Global Labour University (GLU). The GLU, which is a network of universities, trade unions, international trade union support organizations, and the International Labour Organization, offers international master programmes, non-degree certificate training programmes, and massive open online courses (MOOCs) on topics such as workers’ rights, social justice, labor and ecology, economics, global governance, and many others. The GLU also engages in research and publication and convenes international conferences and regional alumni workshops.

 From being an associate institutional member of the GLU since 2016, the UP SOLAIR is now the newest campus of the GLU. The other universities that comprise the GLU are the University of Kassel (Germany), the Berlin School of Economics and Law (BSEL), the Pennsylvania State University (US), the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa), the University of Campinas (Brazil), and the Jawaharlal Nehru University (India).

Source: GLU website: https://global-labour-university.org/.

 

As a GLU campus, UP SOLAIR offers the biennial ENGAGE Asia Programme (Building Worker Power in the 21st Century: Training for Labour Activists in Asia), a four-month blended Certificate Training Course for young trade unionists and labour activists in Asia. The programme has two components—the three-month online phase and the one-month residential/in-person phase. The residential phase is conducted at UP SOLAIR. The first ENGAGE Asia training course was held from mid-March to 25 July 2023. Twenty trade unionists and labour activists from nine countries in Asia participated in the programme. The next ENGAGE Asia will take place in 2025.

The GLU and UP SOLAIR plan to develop a blended international master’s programme which will be hosted by the latter.

The GLU celebrated its 20th anniversary this year (2024) through various international activities. Dean Melisa R. Serrano attended and spoke in two of these international activities—the GLU Symposium in the 2024 International Labour Process Conference on 3-5 April 2024 at the University of Gottingen, Germany, and the Academic Workshop on “Gender and Violence at Work: Potentials and Challenges for Trade Unions in Asia” on 9 April 2024 at the University of Kassel, Germany. Assistant Professor Benjamin Velasco attended the GLU Online Academy’s workshop for the Global Team of Trainers and Tutors (GTTTs) on 29 April-2 May 2024 in Berlin, Germany, and spoke in a session on the contribution of the GLU network, including UP SOLAIR, in the central event of the GLU’s 20th anniversary celebration on 30 April 2024.

To date, two UP SOLAIR faculty and a REPS are alumnae of the GLU, having completed the Master in Labour Policies and Globalization Programme at the University of Kassel and the Berlin School of Economics of Law in Germany.

For more information about the GLU, visit https://global-labour-university.org/.