EDITORIAL

Philippine Journal of Science

Volume 145 Number 3 (September 2016)

Measuring the performance of our higher education institutions – Part I

In AY 2014-2015, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) accredited a total of 1,935 higher

education institutions (HEI’s) in the country consisting of 1,708 (88.3%) and 227 privately-owned

and publicly-funded institutions, respectively [1]. The number of private institutions increased by

25% since AY 2003-2004. On the other hand, the Philippine population grew by 19.5% from 2003

to 2014 (99.14 million) with a corresponding GDP per capita growth of 184% [2].

State universities and colleges (SUC’s) are operated with funds that are drawn from the yearly

national expenditure program that is submitted for Congressional approval and signed into law as the

General Appropriations Act by the Philippine President. Their number has increased by just one

since AY 2003-2004 while that of HEI’s that are financially supported by local government units

rose by almost 120% to 101. Undergraduate and graduate enrollments in AY 2014-2015 were at

3.812 million and 0.649 million respectively, which are 1.58 and 1.67 times their corresponding

values in AY 2003-2004. More than forty-four percent (44.18%) of undergraduates and 46.19% of

graduate students enroled in public institutions during AY 2014 – 2015. Among SUC’s in AY 2012-

2013, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines served the largest student population with 78,874

followed by the University of the Philippines (71,300) and the Mindanao State University (51,048)

[3].

From 2006 to 2016, the yearly national budget is equivalent to 19.3 1.32% of the GDP in the

preceding fiscal year [4]. A growing Philippine economy means more government revenues that

become available to fund public programs and initiatives that promote the greater good. The

national budget in 2015 is 1.59 times bigger than it was in 2009 with the SUC budget allocation

increasing by 61.53%. On average, the University of the Philippines (UP) gets 27.361.32% of the

annual SUC budget.

A PhD degree is a research degree that is granted to a qualified student who has contributed an

original, interesting and significant piece of scientific knowledge. A distinctive requirement in the

awarding of a PhD degree is the publication of the dissertation results in a refereed journal with the

concerned student serving as the principal (i.e. first or corresponding) author. At present, more than

99.5% of the HEI’s could not function as tenable research and graduate universities due to the lack

of capable faculty members to handle PhD programs in STEM [5]. Only PhD faculty members are

qualified to mentor and supervise PhD students and merely 12.54% of all HEI faculty members

possessed the requisite PhD degrees in AY 2014-2015, which is just 3.3% more than the percentage

number in AY 2003-2004 [1]. In the SUC’s, 14.4% of the 47,145 regular faculty members had PhD

degrees with UP (3,165) having the highest percentage at 28.72%.

The DOST established the Engineering Research and Development for Technology (ERDT) and the

Advanced Science and Technology Human Resource Development (ASTHRD) programs in 2007

and 2009 respectively, to increase the number of PhD and MS graduates in STEM. Both initiatives

are aimed at coordinating the technical services of qualified PhD faculty and at broadening access to

the various R&D facilities that already exist in the country. The Science Education Institute of the

DOST evaluated the capabilities of the various HEI’s and initially found that only nine (9) qualified

to participate in either program [6-7]. UP is one of the three SUC’s that could participate in both

programs.

Seven institutions are participating in the ASTHRD program and together they form the National

Science Consortium. As of Summer 2015, only 19.75% (47) and 9.61% (22) of the ERDT and

ASTHRD PhD scholars were able to graduate with 62.32% (43) receiving their technical training

from UP. The most number of PhD graduates in the ERDT and ASTHRD programs are delivered by

UP Diliman (with 32) and UP Los Baños (9), respectively.

The Philippine higher education system urgently needs to produce more PhD graduates in STEM to

sustain the few existing research and graduate universities and to increase their number in the long

run. The PhD faculty demographics is rapidly aging. In October 2010, more than fifty-six percent

(56.7%) of the 764 PhD faculty members serving in the National Science Consortium were 51 years

old and above. The compulsory retirement age in public and private HEI’s is 65 and 60 years old,

respectively. The emerging challenges that Philippine society is facing today - from the increasing

likelihood of extreme weather events to rising income inequality, require innovative solutions that

result from the successful application of new scientific knowledge generated through painstaking

research and development work.

UP Diliman (43.6%), UP Los Baños (24%) and UP Manila (16.4%) are the three largest constituent

universities of UP - together they employed 84% of all regular UP faculty members in April 2011.

Every year UP Diliman produces an average of 68.47 10.51 PhD graduates followed by UP Los

Baños (53.80 9.32) and UP Manila (1.73 1.62) [8]. Annual PhD production is also not stable

and does not reveal a trend to increase with time.

An analysis of the performance of 835 doctoral graduates from fifty-nine programs offered in UP

Diliman between AY 2003-2004 and AY 2014-2015, has revealed that they spent an average of

7.88 1.57 years to complete their degrees. A typical PhD program is designed for completion

within three years of full-time study by a student with the pre-requisite master’s degree. Reducing

the completion time would significantly increase the number of PhD graduates and this possibility

has been demonstrated by the National Institute of Physics which produced fifty-two PhD graduates

who finished within an average of 3.9 years.

Undergraduate and graduate enrolments in public HEI’s have been increasing at an average of 8.6%

and 9.3% per year, respectively [1]. In contrast, graduate program enrolment in private institutions

has been growing annually at just 3.5%. The said characteristics illustrate the increasing role that

public institutions crucially play in human capital generation to support and sustain on-going efforts

to attain true national development. However, the growing interest of more young Filipinos to earn

a PhD degree especially in STEM will come to naught for the Philippine scientific enterprise system

without the attendant increase in the number of PhD faculty members who are willing to share

generously their time and expertise to mentor them. For example, UP Diliman is served by about

450 PhD faculty members in a given year yet it outputs only about sixty-eight PhD graduates

annually. This implies that on average, a faculty is able to graduate only one PhD student in seven

years.

In 2012 the presidents of the one-hundred and twelve SUC’s committed themselves to pursue and

institutionalize within the period covering from 2011 to 2016, a set of reforms the sounds sensible,

specific and comprehensive in scope [9]. With a new government administration that is starting to

hit its stride in July 2016, it is timely for CHED to formulate and apply metrics for gauging

accurately if the aforementioned reforms have been accomplished if not fully then up to what extent.

The results of the evaluation will then serve as a baseline for determining the next action to take.

Continuous improvements that may seem incremental at a glance, are more preferable than new

programs that represent quantum leaps of faith which are likely to cost taxpayers (and the country)

dearly in terms of wasted resources and missed opportunities, every time a bad landing happens.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

1. CHED Higher Education Indicators. Retrieved from www.ched.gov.ph on 16 May 2016

2. The World DataBank. Retrieved from databank.worldbank.org/data/home.aspx on 16 May

2016.

3. State Universities and Colleges Statistical Bulletin - Academic Year 2013-2014. Retrieved

from www.ched.gov.ph on 4 July 2016.

4. Department of Budget Management (www.dbm.gov.ph) accessed 10 February 2016

5. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

6. ASTHRD institutions: UP, Central Luzon State University, Mindanao State University-

Iligan Institute of Technology, Visayas State University, Ateneo de Manila University, De

La Salle University and the University of Santo Tomas.

7. ERDT institutions: UP, Central Luzon State University, Mindanao State University-Iligan

Institute of Technology, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, Mapua

Institute of Technology and the University of San Carlos.

8. Coverage: AY 1999-2000 to AY 2013-2014.

9. Roadmap for Public Higher Education Reform. Retrieved from www.ched.gov.ph on 28

August 2016