CHEd disallows new programs on 5 courses

MANILA, Philippines—Public and private universities and colleges will not be allowed to offer new programs in five fields of study starting next year as the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) ordered a moratorium on new course offerings, citing the decline in the quality of graduates in these fields.

Under CHEd’s Memorandum Order 32, posted online this week, no new undergraduate and graduate programs will be allowed in business administration, nursing, teacher education, hotel and restaurant management and information technology (IT), some of the more popular college courses.

“There is already a proliferation of higher education institutions offering undergraduate and graduate programs [in these fields] which, if allowed to continue unabated, would result in the deterioration of the quality of graduates of these five higher education programs,” said CHEd Chair Patricia Licuanan in the order that she signed Sept. 30.

The moratorium applies only to schools planning on opening courses in the affected programs. It will not affect those that currently offer these courses.

Licuanan said tertiary institutions that were able to submit their applications for new courses under these programs by June 30, or before the moratorium was issued, would still have their papers processed. Applications under appeal as of Sept. 30 will also still be processed.

CHEd Executive Director Julito Vitriolo said the agency would examine the quality of the programs being offered in these courses, noting that too many schools offering these programs while the quality of graduates being produced was deteriorating.

Roughly a third of some 2.7 million college students are enrolled in these fields, with nursing having some 400,000 takers and a combined 300,000 students in business administration and HRM courses, he said.

CHEd particularly noted the poor showing of teaching and nursing graduates in licensure exams “indicating the worsening state of the programs.”

Vitriolo noted a job-skills mismatch in business administration, HRM and IT where too many graduates are chasing after too few jobs.

“There’s unemployment because the [job market] is already saturated with these graduates,” he said.

Graduates of masteral and doctorate programs in teacher education and business administration were also below par, according to a CHEd evaluation. –Tarra Quismundo, Philippine Daily Inquirer