Higher education and the challenges of skills production in the Philippines (original) (raw)

Regulatory and Skills Requirements for Higher Education in the Philippines

Industry and Higher Education, 2015

The provision of public resources to manage the expansion of the higher education system in the Philippines has been inadequate, and this has given rise to many private providers entering the HE domain. The proper regulation of higher education in the country is important if the Philippines is to respond to the challenge of producing the skills it needs for economic development. A Commission on Higher Education document of 2012 reiterated the mandate given to all higher education institutions in the Philippines to build a quality nation and to contribute to its global competitiveness. This mandate includes the need for the higher education system to produce graduates with analytical and problem-solving skills, among others. Perhaps the best one can hope for is that policies of this kind can provide an overarching framework and a general context for the development and strengthening of higher education institutions in order to make them relevant to the needs of the society in which t...

Higher Education in the Philippines: Prospects & Challenges

Higher Education in Southeast Asia & Beyond: State of the Region, 2021

Roger Y. Chao, Jr and Lorraine Pe Symaco envisage Philippine higher education in the next few decades to be increasingly benchmarked internationally — initially within ASEAN standards but eventually with global standards — with an increasing number of joint programmes and transnational programmes offered and delivered by Philippine higher education institutions.

Higher Education Policy in the Philippines : An Analysis

2015

This paper examined the Philippine higher education (HE) system focusing on the Long-Term Higher Education Development Plan (LTHEDP) implemented from 2001 to 2010. The LTHEDP 2001-2010 seeks to address the perennial problems of HE. The Plan also seeks to prepare the Philippines in embracing developmental opportunities for the twenty-first century such as globalization, information and communication technology, and the changing avenues for a knowledge-based economy. Within the LTHEDP Plan, the Philippine government implemented a policy of resource rationalization for the government-funded state universities and colleges (SUCs). The resource rationalization policy aims to limit the obligation of the government in financing higher education institutions (HEIs). Review and analysis of the present HE system reveals that the annual expenditure of the Philippine government in HE is not enough. As compared to other countries in Asia, the Philippines allocates a small percentage of funds for...

Neoliberal Globalization in the Philippines: Its Effects on Higher Education and the country’s attempt to Shift to a Global Education System and to a More Knowledge-Based Economy

In the Philippines, an aspect of improving the existing educational system is through adding topics or fields of study that concern other countries' welfare, cultural influences, political systems, and many more. Education in developing countries is much more complicated than in developed and industrialized countries. Developing countries, such as the Philippines, are lacking a strong educational framework for their citizens. The existing educational framework of the Philippines is highly patterned from the frameworks of industrialized countries, so it could cope with globalization. However, higher education institutions in the Philippines are slowly becoming diploma-mill institutions and are lagging behind global competency standards. Commission on Higher Education is becoming incompetent and inefficient in monitoring and regulating the rising number of Philippine colleges and universities, as well as the graduates. This paper seeks to analyze the strength and flexibility of the Philippine higher educational system (together with the institutions, and the teaching and student population), the adverse effects of neoliberalism and globalization on the Philippine higher educational system, how higher education can be made more accessible to Filipino students, and how the manipulation of higher education affects the pursuit of neoliberal globalization and efficiency of Philippine economy.

Defining Quality Higher Education in an Emerging Economy: A Case of Cebu, Philippines

The Normal Lights, 2020

For a robust economy, unemployment may be caused by job-mismatch, and job-mismatch is often associated with unemployable degree holders. A possible reason for this mismatch is the lack of a standard definition of what is quality higher education (HE) from the perspective of various stakeholders, namely, the educators, employers, and students. To get their definitions of quality HE, we interviewed 10 educators and eight employers from different industries using a non-probability sampling technique. For the sixty students, we used systematic sampling technique and purposive sampling. We collected and categorized their responses using an unstructured interview format and a thematic analysis approach, respectively. Our findings suggest that all three stakeholders based their perception of quality HE through the relevance of curriculum and quality of graduates. The quality of the educators, availability of resources, and societal impact also affect the perceived quality of the HEIs. Sin...

University Graduates’ Assessment of the Relevance of the Curriculum to the Labor Market in the Philippines

International Research in Education, 2021

A university with a relevant curriculum offers authentic practical work experience integrated in the subjects to capacitate the graduates to be job-ready to meet the demands of employers in the industry. In contrast, the graduates are confronted with numerous difficulties in finding a job with their acquired that lacks the required skills from degree curriculum. Based on graduates' self assessment report, this study described the match of the educational qualifications and relevance of the curriculum of the graduates to their current employment. A survey research design was used to gather the self-evaluated responses of 1761 individuals who graduated during 2012 to 2017 from the seven colleges of Mindanao State University-General Santos City (MSU-GSC), Philippines. Questionnaires were distributed for data collection through face-to-face and online data gathering. Results revealed that the supply of graduates’ educational skills are highly matched with the skills demanded by the ...

Toward greater access and impact: Directions for a sociological understanding of Philippine higher education

Industry and Higher Education, 2020

In the Philippines and many other developing countries higher education has a special function, not only with regard to educating students for jobs but also with regard to partnerships for industry growth, research for national development and the formation of critical leaders in society. However, these aims are impeded by issues of access and the unclear impact of higher education and society on each other. In this conceptual study, the authors highlight four directions for a sociological analysis of Philippine higher education: students' access to higher education, its organization and whether it promotes or impedes access, institutions' responses to social, economic and technological changes, and their active influence on society. By reviewing and organizing different frameworks and empirical studies, the authors suggest ways of understanding higher education in the Philippines and how a sociological perspective can clarify postsecondary institutions' role in promoting access for students and having a greater impact on society. Having this sociological consciousness can help administrators, instructors, students and industry leaders to be aware of how higher education in developing contexts can be leveraged for societal development.