Discussants:
Dr. Ester A. Garcia, President, University of the East (Former Chairman, Commission on Higher Education)
Mr. Norman LaRocque, Senior Education Specialist, Southeast Asia Regional Department, Asian Development Bank
The lecture suggests policy reforms designed to raise the quality of instruction, encourage and strengthen academic institutions that undertake research and provide advanced instruction in the sciences, engineering and mathematics, as well as to broaden the access to tertiary education in the Philippines. Only a handful of its 1,741 colleges and universities are of high quality and provide advanced instruction in science and technology. The dismal state of its tertiary education has helped hamper economic growth of the Philippines and explains its poor stranding in global competitiveness. The lecturer recommends drastic changes of the subsidy program to higher education. She proposes to replace the current system that is politically driven and not linked to quality, program offering and student ability with one directed at promoting innovation through research and advanced instruction, and offering scholarship to all bright and deserving students, with living allowance for the relatively poor among them. She recommends the replacement of the nominal fee system in state universities and colleges with socialized tuition at full cost in the intermediate run, and with full-cost tuition in the long run.