A challenge for Philippine Universities

Manila Bulletin – Wed, Jun 19, 2013

The Philippines has some of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Asia. The University of Santo Tomas, founded in 1611, is the oldest university in Asia and one of the world's largest Catholic universities based on enrollment in one campus. UST is also the only pontifical university in Asia, and counts former Presidents Manuel L. Quezon, Sergio Osmena, Sr., and Diosdado Macapagal, and former Chief Justices Jose Concepcion and Andres Narvasa among its distinguished alumni.

The Ateneo de Manila University began in 1859 when the Manila city government transferred the Escuela Municipal de Manila to the Society of Jesus in the Philippines.

Ateneo counts National Hero Jose Rizal among its most distinguished alumni. Former President Joseph E. Estrada and incumbent President Benigno S. Aquino III are also among its alumni.
The University of the Philippines, founded in 1908, provides the largest number of degree programs among local educational institutions. It has been recognized, through Senate Resolution No. 276, as the "nation's premier university." UP has also produced presidents, among them Presidents Manuel A. Roxas and Elpidio Quirino, Senate Presidents, senators, speakers of the House of Representatives, chief justices, national artists, and many prominent lawyers, lawmakers and government executives. UP is one of only three educational institutions in Asia that have received the Ramon Magsaysay Awards, also known as the Asian counterpart of the Nobel Peace Prize.

We have many more universities that have produced outstanding professionals in various fields, whose training now benefits not only the public and private sectors in the Philippines but those in other countries as well. One example that quickly comes to mind is the Filipino meteorologists who now work in Australia and the Middle East.

Given our long history in education and the accomplishments of our academic institutions, I was saddened by the low rankings of our universities in this year's list of top 300 Asian universities ranked by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd., founded by Nunzio Quacquarelli in 1990 while he was completing his master's degree in business administration at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, is now a leading global provider of specialist higher education and careers information and solutions whose activities span 50 countries.

Only five of our universities made it to the top 300 Asian universities, a big drop from the 14 universities on the 2012 list and the lowest number since QS began ranking Asian universities in 2009. In 2011, 15 Philippine universities were included in the QS list, 18 in 2010, and 16 in 2009.
The highest ranking for a Philippine university in the 2013 list was No. 67, for the University of the Philippines. UP moved up from No. 68 in 2012. However, it was ranked higher (No. 62) in 2011 and in 2009 (No. 63). Other Philippine universities declined in rankings. Ateneo de Manila went down to No. 109 this year from No. 86 in 2012. The University of Santo Tomas also went down, from No. 148 to No. 150. De La Salle University was ranked in the 151-160th range, down from its 142nd rank last year. The University of Southeastern Philippines remained in the 251-300 range.

The nine Philippine universities that were on last year's list but were not included in this year's QS list were Mapua Institute of Technology, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Adamson University, Silliman University, Xavier University, Saint Louis University, University of San Carlos, Ateneo de Davao University, and Central Mindanao University.

In my view, both the government and our educational institutions should take the deterioration in the rankings of our universities as a serious challenge to our efforts to become a competitive nation.

Our universities must study how the rankings are done to find out where they failed so they can make the necessary improvements. According to the QS website, the Asian rankings were based on the following criteria: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, papers per faculty, citations per paper, international faculty review, international student review, student exchange inbound and student exchange outbound.

I'm not an expert on education, but I don't think the QS criteria present a formidable barrier for our universities. I'm not saying this because I am a UP alumnus, but I firmly believe that as our country's only State University, it should be among the top 20 universities in Asia.

My point is, our universities should not avoid the rankings, which indicate the competitiveness of our educational institutions. Instead, they should take up the challenge and make serious efforts not only to make it to the list but to make it to the top. It is not only for their individual prestige but it is for the country's international image.

(To be continued)

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http://ph.news.yahoo.com/challenge-philippine-universities-213019191.html