THE PROGRESS OF HIGHER EDUCATION: EXPANSION OVER QUALITY

By: Miriam A. Villas

BBTE-IV-1D


At present, there are certain trends in education which, if we do not follow, may leave us
behind other countries in the world. In our educational system, higher education institutions
should be the first to make changes in our educational system patterns.
Allan De Guzman, (August 2013), in his article entitled Quality Versus Access In
Expanding Higher Education said that higher education institutions are expected to evolve as
world-class universities. The first one is picking winners wherein upgrading a small number of
existing universities which have the potential to excel. The second one is adopting a hybrid
formula, or encouraging a number of existing institutions to merge and transform into a new
university. Lastly, taking a clean-slate approach that creates how world-class universities from
scratch.
I think any of those three strategies would work, but when will we start? When should be
the time that Philippines could come in-line with universities abroad like Harvard and
Cambridge?
According to De Guzman, the Philippine school system is considered to be among the
largest in the world, and higher education system here is unique. He also said that in World
Banks 1994 survey, largest percentage of Filipino students and schools are in the private higher
education sector. And as of August 2011, there are 2,247 colleges which include 534 state
colleges and universities.
He cited the statement of Dr. Lily Garcia of the Commission on Higher Education, The
SUC in the country have attracted much attention over the last two decades because of the rapid
increase in their number and public concern that the quality of education that some SUC offer is
inadequate, considering that their budget share is 15% to 18% of the governments allocation to
education.
I am surprised to Dr. Garcias statement but I can agree to her. There is no essence of
expanding the higher education institutions when the quality is poor. It is true that budget share
for education by the government is very low and that affects the quality of education offered by
the SUCs.
In the modern world, you need to allocate more money for education. It is rare that you
may find the finest university with low cost. You need to invest larger money for education if
you want to have a brighter future.