A year after the launch of the ILO-UPSOLAIR knowledge corner for its faculty, students, and researchers, UPSOLAIR unveiled a Marker of Appreciation and signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in September 2010.

Prof Jorge V. Sibal, Dean of the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UPSOLAIR), the only graduate school in industrial relations in the Philippines, recognized the need to have direct access to ILO reports, statistics, and publications. "The ILO has reference material and up-to-date research in employment and industrial relations not only in Asia but worldwide," he said.

After the MOA signing, Director Lawrence Jeff Johnson spoke at UPSOLAIR's convocation, "From poverty to decent work: bridging the gap through millennium development goals". Representatives of university alumni, graduate students, employers' groups, and faculty members served as reactors. "Director Johnson provided our students with the latest trends not only in the Philippines but the rest of the world. His talk helped enhance the quality of our analysis on local workplace problems. Indeed, poverty in the Philippines is the most pressing concern of the whole country" concluded the convener.