SUCs commit to bigger, better role in education
With no less than President Benigno Aquino III as witness, the presidents of 110 state universities and colleges (SUCs) signed recently, with the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), the Covenant on Philippine Public Higher Education Reform.
Aquino, speaking in Filipino, said students had been pushing themselves to enroll in universities no matter the cost only to end up unemployed after graduation.
“One million jobs have to be created every year to be able to absorb the new graduates,” he said.
CHEd chair Patricia B. Licuanan enumerated some of the problems: “Higher education institutions continue to proliferate, and many are not able to provide quality programs… Research capacity remains weak even in better performing universities.”
SUC presidents, from the Mountain Province to Tawi-Tawi, committed themselves and their respective institutions to the pursuit and implementation of the initiatives proposed in the Roadmap of Public Higher Education Reform 2011-2016.
The roadmap encapsulates Aquino’s strategies for higher education reform. It focuses on nine key areas, including the number, distribution and growth of public higher education institutions, their program offerings and their use of resources.
Also targets are the upgrading of the faculty and the modernization of developing SUCs. Through the covenant, SUCs are also looking forward to a stronger student financial assistance program, as well as an executive development program for more effective public higher education management.
Fundamental deficiencies
Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges president Dr. Ricardo E. Rotoras led the signing. He was joined by four other SUC presidents: Dr. Olympio V. Caparas, vice president for the National Capital Region; Dr. Miriam E. Pascua, vice president for Luzon; Mar P. de Asis, vice president for Visayas; and Dr. Perfecto A. Alibin, vice president for Mindanao.
In part, the covenant stated: “We are aware of the fundamental and long-running deficiencies of Philippine higher education; the lack of overall vision, framework and plan; deteriorating quality; and limited access.”
The major objectives of the roadmap are to raise the level of educational outcomes and increase the social relevance of the SUCs’ developmental functions and to expand access to quality higher education among lower income and disadvantaged groups.
Additional funding
To advance the reform goals, Aquino had approved in December a P4.28-billion supplemental budget for SUCs, using savings from the 2011 budget.
The additional funds are good news to cash-strapped SUCs relying on budgets that have not increased in recent years.
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the money, which had been transferred to CHEd, would be used for infrastructure and equipment, research, executive development and poverty alleviation scholarships.
Of the P4.28 billion, P2.631 billion will be spent on upgrading key infrastructure and facilities; P560 million as grant-in-aid (GIA) for research, development and extension; and P165 million for executive development of SUC administrators.
Some P427.8 million have been allocated for modernizing the higher education facilities of developing SUCs. CHEd’s Student Financial Assistance Program, which supports 62,000 undergraduate students, will have an additional P500 million to benefit 3,400 more who will enroll in priority courses like science, agriculture and fisheries, engineering and technology and entrepreneurship at leading SUCs.
Four government agencies are assisting CHEd in the reform initiative. These are the Department of Public Works and Highways for the infrastructure and facilities upgrade, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies for research, the Department of Social Work and Development for the GIA program, and the Development Academy of the Philippines for the executive development program.
CHEd has asked for project proposals from SUCs based on guidelines under Republic Act Nos. 7722 and 8292.
