CHED wants better college educators

DESPITE resources provided by the government in srecent years, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said the deteriorating quality of faculty members in the country’s college and university are still among the factors affecting the quality of tertiary education.

CHED Chairman Dr. Patricia Licuanan said that inadequate faculty credentials, declining performance of graduates in licensure exams, lack of accreditation of higher education institutions, poor facilities and unplanned expansion are some of the major problems in the country’s higher education sector.

“Majority of the higher education faculty possess no more than the level of qualification for which their students are studying. Low level teacher qualification inevitably leads to low level of learning achievement among students which in turn is translated into poor performance in licensure and other entry examinations in the world of work,” a statement from the CHED’s website stated.

A briefing paper of CHED showed that only 12,670, or 10 percent of faculty members nationwide have doctorate degrees, 46,346, or 36 percent have Masteral degrees and 72,153, or 55 percent of the 129,675 faculty members still do not have graduate degrees.

A memorandum issued in 2008 (CHED Memorandum Order 40) requires all higher education institutions (HEIs) faculty to have at least master’s degree.

Only 83 HEIs, 60 private institutions and 23 state universities and colleges have adequate facilities.

Licuanan said they are working double time to implement this as the memorandum mandated that all faculty members of colleges and universities should have at least a master’s degree by academic year 2011 to 2012.

The CHED chairman has called for a massive faculty development program to enable at least 20,000 faculty to obtain masters or doctorate degrees and undergo Continuing Professional Education in the next six years.

There are very few PhD and master’s degree holders in certain highly technical and specialized fields, like biotechnology, materials science, engineering and Information Technology along with institutions lacking the requisite facilities and laboratories for advanced studies in the said fields.

Also, the country’s expenditure of research and development (R&D) was far below the benchmark of 1 percent of a country’s gross domestic product as set by the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

Data showed the country has only 165 R&D personnel for every 1 million—less than half of Unesco’s 380 R&D workers for every 1-million standard for developing countries like the Philippines.

Earlier, CHED Executive Director Julito Vitriolo expressed concern that the budget cut in the commission’s 2011 funding may affect its faculty development plan, where funds for masteral and doctoral scholarships for professors are obtained.

Vitriolo added the Commission might have to scale the program from their original target.

CHED is expected to get P1.69-billion funding next year from this year’s P2.54 billion. –Maria Nikka U. Garriga, Manila Times