Ateneo and Megawide Corporate Foundation sign MOA to provide allowances for scholars

Ateneo de Manila University and Megawide Corporate Foundation signed a memorandum of agreement on 7 May 2024 for the latter to provide allowance support for scholars studying in Ateneo's John Gokongwei School of Management (JGSOM).

The MOA was signed by Dr Maria Luz C Vilches, Ateneo's Vice President for Higher Education; Dr Jose Maria Edito K Tirol, Director of the Office of Admissions and Aid; Atty Mia Andal-Castro, Consultant, Megawide Corporate Foundation; and Ms Teresa C Saavedra, Executive Director of Megawide Corporate Foundation, Inc.

In his address, Dr Tirol noted the importance of getting support from donors for scholars' allowances, especially in the face of rising inflation.

"I was paying for a full tank of gas the other day, and I hadn't seen prices that high since 2001," he noted. "And obviously, when gas prices go up, everything else goes up, the cost of food, the cost of books, of transportation."

He continued that any support "really helps. It helps them go to school, pay for books, look for food, and helps them study more."

Meanwhile, Ms Saavedra talked about Megawide's history and how the company has a history of using disruptive technologies and techniques in its construction projects, including its flagship airport projects in Clark and Cebu.

However, as Ms Saavedra explained, Megawide and the Megawide Corporate Foundation realized that disruption through infrastructure was not enough to create meaningful change and that it had to support this in the education sector as well.

"We realized that we cannot help and make an impact on the community just by (building infrastructure), so now we focused on education and environment," Ms Saavedra explained. "And we realized it's just not education, it's not just giving money, giving the tuition."

"So we decided that we're going to give a holistic education."

In her own address, Dr Vilches agreed that disruption and holistic education were needed and that Ateneo was providing these to its students through its core curriculum.

"Our formation program is our bedrock," Dr Vilches said of the core curriculum. "Can you imagine coming into this institution where you have 79 units of courses shared by everybody? 79 where in other universities you only have 36 in general education."

On top of the core curriculum being disruptive itself, Dr Vilches also talked about how Ateneo was more than about intellectual and how the University was also about "the heart."

"As you can imagine, we get the cream of the crop," she stated. "They're here not because we want to form them more (intellectually), we want to form their heart."

"In a society that aims to build the nation, you need to have people who have empathy, who have the ability to reach out to those who are in need."

Under the MOA, Megawide Corporate Foundation will provide allowance support for five scholars in their junior year of either BS Management (BS MGT) or BS Management Engineering (BS ME) at Ateneo JGSOM. This support will consist of a monthly stipend of ₱11,220 per month, or ₱56,100 per semester. This stipend shall be disbursed every month by Megawide directly to the scholars.