CHED to freeze more oversubscribed courses

THE Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said it is mulling to issue another set of moratorium order on “oversubscribed” courses being offered by higher education institutions (HEI). Commission Chairman Dr. Patricia Licuanan said they are “looking again” at other courses that could also be oversubscribed such as the likes of nursing, teacher education, business administration, information technology and hospital and restaurant management which are covered by a previously issued moratorium order.

The Commission recently issued Memorandum Order 32 banning public and private higher education institutions from offering new undergraduate and graduate programs in the said oversubscribed courses.

Licuanan said among the courses they are currently looking at were criminology, maritime and accountancy courses, adding that they are currently in discussion with the various colleges and universities and other stakeholders to ensure the quality of the degree programs they are offering.

The CHED chief said that besides the oversubscribed courses, they are also looking at the proliferation of degree programs at the country’s 2,180 HEIs including 109 state universities and colleges and their campuses.

Earlier, Licuanan called on students to enroll in “under-subscribed” such as science and technology as well as fisheries and agriculture.

The commission said agriculture, fisheries and science and technology are classified as undersubscribed programs because of the low number of enrollees and graduates in the past few years.

Licuanan said the current situation in which there is a huge number of graduates in oversubscribed courses resulted to a job mismatch as students graduated with skills not needed in the labor market.

A briefing paper of CHED showed that there is a large unemployment and underemployment rate in such areas as mining, aeronautics, geology and software engineering in the country.

The paper also identified skills mismatch along with the proliferation of HEI and degree programs as among the problems facing the country’s tertiary education sector.

There is also a decline in the performance level across all programs in licensure examinations administered by the Professional Regulatory Commission from 38 percent in 2006 to 36.50 percent last year.

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz supports the stand of Licuanan on the issue of oversubscribed courses, adding that it would help decrease the number of unemployed graduates in the country.

Baldoz said the CHED moratorium complement the Labor department’s efforts to provide relevant market information and employment options to students. –MARIA NIKKA U. GARRIGA, Manila Times