UP Manila, Rutgers University Sign Joint MOA on Academic Partnership

January 14, 2026

Text by Jennifer Manongdo
Photos by Sarah Hazel Moces Pulumbarit

*Officials of the University of the Philippines Manila and delegates from Rutgers University gamely posed before the camera after the ceremonial signing of a Memorandum of Agreement on Jan. 7, 2026.*

Officials of the University of the Philippines Manila and Rutgers University inked an agreement on Jan. 7, 2026, stipulating academic collaboration between the two institutions.

The ceremonial signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was led by Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. Bernadette Heizel Reyes; College of Nursing Dean Sheila Bonito; and Rutgers assistant professor, Jamille Nagtalon-Ramos.The MOU established the framework for academic collaboration and joint research activities between UP Manila and Rutgers-Camden School of Nursing.

The event was also attended by the first batch of participants of the Rutgers Learning Abroad Program in the Philippines under the leadership of Nagtalon-Ramos. The Rutgers Learning Abroad Program focuses on how social determinants such as economics, culture, religion, media, environment, and public policy shape women’s health. Working as a women’s health nurse practitioner with over 22 years of clinical experience, Nagtalon-Ramos is studying how political and social systems influence women’s health outcomes, particularly Filipinos in the US.and in the Philippines.

“Across UP Manila, we are very strong in terms of ensuring that our students understand social determinants of health,” Dr. Reyes said. “This cuts across all of the disciplines whether it’s a health-related discipline or a not-health-related discipline.”

“We have developmental studies, area studies, social science, and political science courses here in UP Manila. Even these have a health orientation.That’s what differentiates it from [maybe] doing political science in another campus…We ensure that all of our students understand how important social determinants are in terms of all of the disease conditions that they see whether it’s in dentistry, nursing, microbiology, biochemistry, public health, medicine, science,” Dr. Reyes assured.

Ramos, together with UP Manila College of Nursing Assistant Professor Floreliz V. Ngaya-an and their research teams are set to complete a study on how Filipino women access sexual and reproductive health information.

The ceremonial MOU signing was organized by the Office of International and Local Linkages led by Director Vivien Fe Fadrilan-Camacho and UP Manila College of Nursing Assistant Professor and Coordinator Laurence Lloyd Parial.