Congress asked to help limit foreign students in medical programs

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Sonny Angara on Sunday said Congress should flex its budgetary muscles to temporarily prevent state-owned colleges and universities from accepting foreign students to their medical programs.

Angara, who will defend the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021 in the Senate, said the chamber should conduct an inquiry into the policies of public universities that allowed students from other countries to complete their medical degrees courtesy of Filipino taxpayer.

During the budget hearing in the Senate last week, Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) Chair Prospero de Vera III said his office could not prevent government educational institutions from implementing such policies since these were approved by their boards of regents.

Temporary order

“In principle, there’s nothing wrong with it as (De Vera) said it helps the country in taking part in international projects,” Angara said in a radio interview.

“But in this time of a pandemic when we really need health personnel and we lack doctors, we can have a temporary order limiting [the medical programs in state universities] to Filipino students only,” he said.

Angara, chair of the Senate finance committee, said free college education should primarily benefit poor students as stipulated under the law that mandates free tuition in all government-owned tertiary schools.

Told that De Vera had admitted that the CHEd could not stop state universities from accepting foreign students, he said: “We could have an investigation into that.”

Angara said that while he recognizes that colleges and universities have academic freedom to enforce their own policies, the Senate can intervene by scrutinizing their budget request for 2021.

Exclusion of Filipinos

“If they still refuse to heed [our call], we can discuss it during the budget deliberations. Maybe we can talk about it first and seek explanation [from the officials of state colleges and universities],” he said.

Last week, several senators expressed disapproval of admitting foreign medical students to publicly funded state universities and colleges, as it could lead to the exclusion of Filipino students.

Not ‘open-ended policy’

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon opposed the use of public funds for the education of foreign students.

“I just cannot accept that foreign students will go into [state universities and colleges] without any restrictions, particularly in the areas where … Filipino students are struggling to get into. This is the field of medicine, for example,” Drilon said.

Accepting foreign students must not be an open-ended policy lest it be abused, he said.

Drilon proposed that a special provision be introduced into the budget to regulate the acceptance of foreign students to state universities and colleges.

‘Limited capacity’

The admission of foreign students could be limited to certain fields, he said, adding that he would leave it to the CHEd to make the suggestion.

Sen. Cynthia Villar agreed that foreign students should not compete with Filipino students for admission in state-funded tertiary schools.

“We have limited capacity and we should give it to Filipinos, not to foreigners,” Villar said.

Sen. Pia Cayetano acknowledged the role that international links play in Philippine state universities and colleges, but said there should be guidance from the CHEd on how to limit these so as not to exclude Filipino students from certain courses.

It is not just a matter of public funds being used for the education of foreign students but of the exclusion of Filipino students, she said.

—With a report from Leila B. Salaverria