CHed: Colleges must update curricula

BAGUIO CITY—Free tuition may have allowed poor students to enter state colleges and universities, but schools must lure more of them, given that only 33 percent of young Filipinos pursue college education, said Commission on Higher Education (CHeD) chair Prospero de Vera during a higher education summit here.

If no dramatic changes occur in 10 to 15 years, youth in other Asian countries “will be better trained than us,” De Vera said, adding that the participation rate of students in college in Malaysia was 44 percent and in Thailand, 43 percent.

De Vera said colleges and universities must upgrade their programs to match trends in industry and technology that have been changing rapidly.

Citing agriculture courses, he noted that students don’t learn about entrepreneurship in agriculture nor farm management.  “What we teach them is how to plant… not how to earn from the farm,” De Vera said.

A solution, he said, would be technical panels that would develop college curricula based on inputs from industry leaders and professionals, who have better insights into the challenges of the real world after college.—VINCENT CABREZA