Some senators want foreign medical students barred from SUCs

MANILA, Philippines — Several senators want foreign medical students barred from admission to state universities and colleges (SUCs) as they fear that foreigners are taking up limited slots that could have been given to Filipinos.

It is “repulsive” that foreign medical students are allowed in publicly-funded SUCs, Senator Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said during the Senate deliberations on the proposed budget of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) on Monday.

“I find this a bit repulsive that we spend taxpayers’ money to educate foreign medical students,” Drilon said.

The minority leader raised such concerns after it was learned, upon the questioning of Senator Imee Marcos, that many foreign students have been allowed admission to the medical program of SUCs.

According to Marcos, several student groups have reached out to her office to complain that the Philippine government is supposedly funding the studies of “lots and lots” of foreign students.

CHEd chair Prospero De Vera III explained that the admission policies of each SUC are up to its respective Board of Regents.

“There are accusations that the foreign students are crowding out the local students in these medical programs,” De Vera said.

De Vera also said that he personally thinks that SUCs should not accept foreign medical students.

“Kung ako lang po ang masusunod, ang posisyon ko diyan, kapag state University ka sa medical program, dapat ang estudyante mo Pilipino lang,” he said.

“That is my personal position but those decisions are made by the Board of Regents of individual state universities, they are not made by the commission,” he added.

Special provision

Drilon suggested that the Senate finance committee could include a special provision under the budget bill that would prohibit the Board of Regents from allowing the admission of foreign medical students

“We are not saying that foreign medical students should not come to our shores, but let them enroll in private schools and pay the appropriation fees; but to be in public SUCs cannot be justified for whatever reason,” the minority leader said.

While Senator Pia Cayetano, who was residing over the budget hearing, shared Drilon’s concern, she noted that the admission of foreign students may have been a part of the CHEd’s effort to internationalize the country’s higher education system.

International linkages

“I know international linkages are part of your ranking and that includes exchanges of professors and exchanges of students. Would this be covered? Because if this is part of your global mandate then I want to know before we accept such a proposal,” Cayetano said.

In response, De Vera answered in the affirmative.

“That’s why we have to balance these issues, the intent to internationalize our education at the same time, the fact that these education is publicly subsidized,” the CHEd chair said.

According to De Vera, there are limitations imposed to SUCs that admit foreign students in terms of the reimbursement of tuition and miscellaneous fees.

“They cannot [ask for the reimbursement for the expenses of] foreign students from the subsidy of the government. But they can, under the power of the [Board of Regents], decide on the admission policies for foreign students,” he added.

On the issue of international linkages, Drilon noted that the Philippines “does not take advantage of this.”

“I am not aware of the extent of our Filipino medical students taking medical students in other countries and you know, for all we know there are also restrictions in the admission of foreigners in these foreign universities in their own land,” the minority leader said.

Drilon then urged De Vera to submit to the Senate committee a suggestion to his proposal that would still take into consideration the need to foster international linkages.

“Chairman De Vera should submit a proposed provision that would regulate this kind of practice having in mind international linkages as a necessary policy that our SUCs have to follow. We can limit it to certain fields of endeavor, medicine should not be one of them,” he said.

He added that setting limitations would prevent such an “open-ended” policy from being abused.

“There must be limitations to this. I just cannot accept that foreign students will go into SUCs without any restriction, particularly in the areas where our own Filipino students are struggling to get into,” Drilon added.

Senators back Drilon

Senator Cynthia Villar backed Drilon’s proposal as she underscored the limited capacity of medical programs in Philippine universities.

“I don’t really agree that we should educate foreign students in our SUCs. I mean we have limited capacity and we should give it to the Filipinos, not to foreigners,” she said.

Marcos also said that reforming the policy of allowing foreign medical students in SUCs would result in effective implementation of a bill seeking to grant full medical scholarships to eligible Filipino students.

“We are aggressively increasing the number of medical scholarships e baka bumagsak pa sa mga dayuhan. Naku palpak naman, sayang naman ang effort natin,” she said.

Citing data from the Bureau of Immigration, Marcos noted that there are a total of 26,000 foreign students in the country. However, she said she was not able to get the figure on how many are enrolled in a medical program.

She asked De Vera to provide the Senate panel of the said data.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian shared his colleagues’ sentiment, saying that “it is just proper to make it exclusive or at least prioritize our fellow Filipinos.”

De Vera, meanwhile, noted that some SUCs offering medical programs are exclusive for Filipino students.

At present, there are only eight SUCs across seven regions in the country that are offering a doctor of medicine program, according to data presented by CHEd during the hearing.

During the last school year, a total of 4,128 students enrolled in the program.

The CHEd chair said he would make the necessary submission to the Senate committee on the matter.

JE