The ENGAGE Asia Programme, a biennial non-degree Certificate course of the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP SOLAIR) and the Global Labour University (GLU), with funding support from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO Norway), will be held on 3 March to 18 July 2025. The online phase of the programme, which involves the completion of selected GLU Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and participation in tutored online workshops, will run from 3 March to 16 June. The residential phase which will place at UP SOLAIR will be held on 23 June to 18 July. This combination of online learning and residential learning sessions is a unique feature of the programme.  

Lecturers of the residential stage of the programme will come from the GLU network of universities, other universities outside the GLU network, global union federations, and national trade unions in the Philippines.  GLU and UP SOLAIR have also signed a memorandum to ensure the future of the ENGAGE programme in the Philippines, defining a clear distribution of roles and responsibilities. 

The 2025 ENGAGA Asia received 49 applications. Twenty-three were selected to participate in this year’s programme. These successful applicants come from various trade unions and labour organisations in 10 countries in Asia, namely Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Full scholarships (covering roundtrip airfare, accommodation, meals) from the FES and LO Norway for the residential phase have been awarded to most of the successful applicants. For this year’s programme, two of the selected applicants are self-paying, an indicator of the programme’s appeal and relevance to trade unions in Asia. The participants are expected to arrive in Manila on 21 to 22 June for the residential phase.

Another unique feature of ENGAGE Asia is the integration of its alumni into the programme. For the 2025 run of the course, two alumni of the 2023 course will be among the tutors in the online phase. These tutors are also part of the Global Team of Trainers of the GLU Online Academy, having completed the pertinent training as well after finishing the ENGAGE Asia programme. In addition, an alumna of the 2023 programme, who was duly elected by the ENGAGE Asia alumni, is among the members of the Selection Committee. In the medium term, some of the alumni may also be tapped as lecturers in the programme.

Next year (2026), a tracer study involving the 2023 alumni of ENGAGE Asia will be conducted to find out whether or how the alumni used the training, the outcomes from using the training, and how their work lives in the trade union progressed after three years.