Global standards for higher education (4)

[Since last Sunday, the column of Dr. Felizardo Francisco, Director, CHED, has come out on Sunday instead of Friday.]

[This is the last, the fourth, installment of the speech I delivered on “the Role of CHED in Setting Global Standards for Higher Education in the Philippines” during the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) Symposia and Fora on July 9, 2010 with the theme “Looking Global ……. Taking Actions …”]

CHED’s Office of Programs and Strandards was recently tasked to study the introduction of an additional year of study in the bachelor’s degree level. The idea is to have an additional year of study for incoming freshman as a sort of bridging program in the areas of Science, Math and English. The bridging courses would be taken during the first semester of the first year and the rest of the first 2 years of study would be composed mostly of General Education courses. The next three years of study would cover the core and professional courses for the particular program of study.

The objective of this initiative is to increase the students’ competencies in Science, Math and English before they are allowed to take college level courses and also for the country to become a signatory to the Bologna Process within the next five years. The Bologna Process is an all inclusive structural reform of the European Higher Education Systems. The process is born out of the need to address problems in the areas of access and mobility, quality assurance, credit transfer and recognition. The main objectives of the Bologna Process are international competitiveness, mobility and employability. Most of the signatories to the Bologna Process follow a program of study following the European system of three years of formal bachelors’ degree studies, two years for the Masters program and another three years for the doctorate program.

The OPS was tasked to study the current structure of our Education System and one of the logical frameworks to follow and adapt is the Bologna Process. Once the country becomes formally accepted as signatory to the process, our graduates would be accepted by other signatory countries of having the same competencies and qualifications as their graduates in whatever level of the educational system. However there are still many policy directives and actions that need to be discussed and resolved before the country can be a signatory to the Bologna Process. Hopefully, with the new administration, we would be able to thresh out the issues and come up with a clearer picture of our thrust for increased participation in the setting up and adoption of recognized international agreements on internationalization of degree programs.

Concluding remarks

I have discussed with you the role that the CHED has played in terms of setting global standards in higher education. More importantly, on how the CHED looks in advance to whatever developments there are in the different disciplines in higher education, in setting up quality systems and standards in the program and institutional level and the framework for the acceptance of local graduates in the global arena.

There are still many interventions that the CHED can undertake such as the conduct of further benchmarking studies and policy research to identify future development projects. The step to align the country with the Bologna Process is a step forward but whether or not it is a step in the right direction is still debatable, but I still believe that it is still a positive step for the Commission to take. The process is still in the planning and development stage and through this process we can further internalize our strengths and weaknesses resulting in a better awareness of our capabilities and shortcomings to better prepare us for a global future.

At this point in time, I think the CHED and our Higher Education Institutions have been performing well in terms of being able to ride the global bandwagon. Our infrastructure in terms of Information and Communications Technology is at par with the best in the world, we are now number two in terms of outsourcing destinations in the world, second only to India.

Our overseas Filipino workers have been keeping our economy afloat through their increased and regular remittances. These are outcomes of our education system.

The ICT infrastructure was designed and realized through our graduates in science and mathematics. The workers for multinational and local outsourcing companies are products of our local universities. Even though most of the workers are in the Call Center Industry, other Business Process Outsourcing jobs are finding their way to the country. Back Office services such as legal and medical transcription up to the level of Software Development and Engineering Design have been steadily increasing in the past year.

Filipino workers are sought after the world over not only for their technical skills but also for additional traits and soft skills that are inherent in being a Filipino. Filipino workers are often cited for their humility, flexibility, respect for authority and an overall jovial personality. These traits have been ingrained in us through our strong religious beliefs and culture and further strengthened by values education courses in HEIs.

This is one of our advantages that we must not forget as we ride the global bandwagon. The advantage of being able to keep our identity despite the different cultures and values that permeate the whole gamut of the human global experience. As we reach out to the rest of the world, we must not forget to place our other hand down pat in our hearts and remember what it is to be a Filipino. –FELIZARDO Y. FRANCISCO, Manila Times

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