108

MODULE 6
TERTIARY EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

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Introduction
As per EDCOM Report (Making Education Work, 1992) the present
system of Philippine Education is inefficient, poor in quality, lack of
access, equity, leadership and planning. Although it has contributed to
the development of the country in all fields political leadership, agroindustrial development and commercial and industrial ventures; and in
terms of intellectual, moral, social and cultural development of Filipino
people, the education system needs system changes and innovations that
will

hopefully

propel

the

Philippines

towards

becoming/newly

industrialized country in the near future and restore its image as a well
known educational center in this part of the world as soon as possible.
The seriousness of the present educational system as pointed out
by EDCOM Report was translated into the enactment of RA 7722;
creating the CHED (Commission on Higher Education), in 1995, to
supervise the tertiary degree programs. This change was hopefully could
turn out excellent and globally competitive graduates who can help
improve the quality of life of the people via skills training, technology
transfer and innovative research.
Thus, this module lesson discusses the concept and state of higher
education in the Philippine, its philosophy, vision, mission, goals and
objective.
Further discussion engulfs the higher education program thrusts,
curriculum,

implementation

development.
Objectives:

strategies

and

its

implication

for

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This module lesson seeks to make students:
1. familiar with the concept and state of higher education in
the Philippines;
2. explain the philosophy, vision, mission, goals and objectives
of higher education in the Philippines;
3. identify the program thrusts and program curriculum; and
4. spell out the implementation strategies and the higher
education implication to development.

Suggested Time Frame:

6 hours

Discussions in this module based in existing literature(s) were

gleaned from several sources which are listed in the section for references
used. While some ideas were directly lifted from these sources, this
writer added his personal insight about the topics as he sees them fitted
and relevant based on his experience, observation and cognition.

Concept of Higher Education

The 1987 Philippine Construction clearly provides that the state
shall give priority to education, science and technology, arts, culture and
sports to foster patriotism and nationalism, accelerate social progress
and total liberation and development (Nolledo, 1997)
The Education Act of 1982 declares that Higher Education will be
geared towards the provision of quality education. The main thrust of
higher education is to achieve equity, efficiency and high quality in the
institutions of higher learning in both public and private so that together

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they will provide a complete set of program offerings that meet national
and regional development needs.

State of Higher Education in the Philippines

The present state of education in the Philippines has been
painstakingly assessed by EDCOM, a congressional commission created
in the 1990 Joint Congressional Resolution signed by them Senate
President Jovito Salonga and House Speaker Ramon Mitra.
The EDCOM Report revealed that i) the quality of the Philippine
education is continuously declaiming; ii) elementary and high schools
are failing to teach the competence an average citizen needs to become
responsible, productive and self-fulfilling; iii) colleges and technicalvocational schools are not producing the manpower needed to develop
the economy; and iv) graduate education is mediocre and does not
generate research based knowledge needed to create more jobs and raise
the value of production.
The state of higher education in micro setting can be characterized
as i) the politically motivated proliferation of institution of higher
learning; ii) the gradual increase of annual enrolment in courses not
necessarily directed for national development, but in traditional degree
programs such commerce, teacher education, arts and sciences and
health sciences; iii) performance in licensure examination of graduates,
except in medicine, an indicator of sub standard curricular program, and
poor and inefficient implementation of policies and standards; iv)
moratorium regarding offering of new curriculum and creating of new
HEIs; v) voluntary accreditation, a mechanism being adopted to ensure
quality in higher education; vi) existing double standard of governance in

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public and private HEIs; vii) weak supervision and regulations of HEIs
remain a challenge with regard to effective management; viii) inequitable
distribution of funds or resources among public HEIs has been an
important problem; ix) inadequate budget for research and extension for
HEIs; x) inadequate qualified faculty members to teach courses offered
by HEIs; xi) limited fundings for scholarship/grants/loan caused limited
educational opportunities for poor but deserving and qualified youth
belonging to the indigent families.
In addition, EDCOM Report cited problems why quality education
is not attained, viz:
i. Lack of budget, meaning the government is simply not
investing enough in education system;
ii. Poor management of educational institution or the fly-bynight private institution which can operate with substandard facilities, ill-prepared teachers and administrators;
and
iii. Prohibitive cost of education or the sky-high tuition and
other schools fees of high quality schools prohibits the poor
but deserving students to remain in school.

The Higher Educations Philosophy, Vision, Mission

Goals and Objectives
Philosophy
The higher education philosophy states that in the environment of
freedom, excellence and relevance it seeks to harness, develop and
catalyze the constructive and productive use of the full potential and
capabilities of Filipino man and woman into becoming creative, decisive,

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competitive, critically thinking and acting individuals who contribute to i)
the realization of Filipino identity and strong sense of national pride; ii)
the cultivation and inculcation of moral and spiritual foundation; iii) the
attainment of political maturity, economic stability and equitable social
progress; and iv) the preservation and enrichment of the historical and
cultural heritage of the Filipinos, as a people and a nation.

Vision
Higher education would have provided and expanded opportunities
for the technically useful knowledge and skills development of Filipinos
and would have constructively advanced the capabilities of Filipinos in
society. It would have produce in the Filipinos the ability to think
critically, create act positively and contribute to the full development of
the family, community and the larger society.

Mission
Higher education shall be geared toward the pursuit of better
quality of life for all Filipinos by emphasizing the acquisition of knowledge
and formation of those skills necessary to make the individual a
productive member of society. It shall accelerate the development of high
levels professional who will search for new knowledge, provide leadership
in various disciplines required by a dynamic and self-sustaining
economy. Higher education shall likewise be used to harness the
productive capacity of the countrys human resource base towards
international competitiveness.

Goals

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The goals of higher education is ensuring the attainment of
empowered

and

globally competitive

Filipinos

via

i)

quality and

excellence; ii) relevance and responsiveness; iii) access and equity; and
efficiency and effectiveness.
In terms of quality and excellence, this goal calls for provision of
undergraduate

and

graduate

education

which

meet

international

standards of quality and excellence; relevance and responsiveness

require generation and diffusion of knowledge in the broad range of
disciplines relevant and responsive to dynamically changing domestic
and international environment; access and equity or broadening the
access

of

deserving

and

qualified

Filipinos

to

higher

education

opportunities; and efficiency and effectiveness will optimize social,

institutional and individual returns and benefits derived from the
utilization of higher education resources.

Program Thrusts of Higher Education

In accordance with the goals of the higher education that are cited
in the preceding, CHED come up with development programs that are
implementable with specific activity thrusts.

Quality and Excellence

Quality and excellence can be achieved via the development of:
i)

center of excellence in different disciplines;

ii)

policies, institutional and academic standard;

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iii)

higher

education

information

system,

communication

highway, networking and internet linkages;

iv)

regional capabilities in science and technology education;

v)

academic

exchanges

between

and

among

local

and

international HEIs, scholarship grants and international

convention, etc.
This program thrust delves on strengthening the human resources
capabilities of HEIs and CHED and optimize foreign assistance in critical
areas

like

agricultural

technology

education,

environmental

and

maritime education.

Efficiency and Effectiveness

This program in higher education calls for the development of a
rational

resource

generation

and

allocation

scheme

for

HEIs;

establishment of baseline date of the location, program mapping and

categorization of HEIs and formulation of higher education code.

Relevance and Responsiveness

The program will undertake studies regarding sectoral manpower
supply and demand studies; sectoral tracer studies of graduates; policy
studies research and development for the improvement of the quality of
higher education; and conduct of researches in priority discipline and
key areas in higher education.

Access and Equity

To make higher education available even to low income groups of
family, CHED will expand the grants for scholarship, assistance and

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other student services; come-up with a voucher system for scholarships,
grants and other student services; develop policy and program regarding
distance education, and review the policy regarding accreditation and
strengthen the accreditation system
The Curriculum for Higher Education as per the 1987 Philippine
Constitution provides guidance in formulating the curriculum for Higher
Education. Atty. Jose Nolledo (1995) in his book The Education Acts of
the Philippines. Annotated, comments thus:
Aside from the provisions on religious instruction and the
teaching of the Constitution as well as usual curricula on science,
language, math, etc., the curricula of schools and colleges, according to
the New Constitution, shall teach, inculcate or foster.
i.

Patriotism and Nationalism

ii.

Love of humanity

iii.

Respect for human rights

iv.

Appreciation of the role of national heroes in the historical

development of the country

v.

Ethical and Spiritual values

vi.

Rights and duties of citizenship

vii. Moral character

viii. Personal discipline
ix.

Critical and creative thinking

x.

Scientific and technological knowledge

xi.

Vocational efficiency

In line with this Constitutional provision, the CHED Memorandum

Order (CMO) No. 59, Series of 1996 was issued providing basic
requirements

for baccalaureate

degree

programs. The

said

CMO

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enumerates that the new general education curriculum as the basic
CHED requirement. This was issued in accordance with the provision in
the Republic Act 7722, called Higher Education Act of 1994.
The minimum requirements for the mandatory general education
curriculum (GEC) of tertiary courses of study leading to an

initial

bachelors degree covering four (4) curriculum years shall henceforth be

sixty-three (63) units distributed as follows:
The Minimum Requirements for the
New General Education Curriculum (GEC)
Language and Literature
English
Filipino
Literature

24 units
9 units
9 units
6 units

Mathematics and Natural Science

Mathematics
Natural Sciences
Science Elective

15 units
6 units
6 units
3 units

Humanities and Social Sciences

18 units
Humanities
6 units
Arts and Philosophy
Social Sciences
12 units
Basic Economic (with taxation and Agrarian Reform)
General Psychology
Politics and Governance (with Philippine Constitution)
Society and Culture (with Family Planning)
Mandated Subjects
Life and Works of Rizal
Philippine History

6 units
3 units
3 units
Total

__________________
63 units

The curriculum for the academic masters degree shall contain a

minimum total of 36 units distributed as follows:
Basic Courses

9 units

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Research Methodology 1
Statistics/Research/
Methodology II / Thesis Seminar
Foundation Courses
(Any foundation course in the
discipline)
Major Field of Concentration
Cognates
Thesis or project Paper

3 units
3 units
3 units

15 units
6 units
6 units
Total
36 units
The doctoral program a minimum 48 academic units, excluding

the dissertation and masters units, distributed as follows:

Philosophy Courses
Major Fields of Concentration
Cognates
Dissertation

9 units
30 units
9 units
12
Total

units

60 units

Strategies and Implementing Mechanism

The magnitude of implementing the CHED program thrusts
depends on the appropriateness of the strategies that will be employed
with respect to the activities to be pursued under each program in terms
of:
i)

networking among HEIs, industry, government officers, nongovernment

organizations,

international

organizations

or

institutions, the CHED regional offices with central offices as

the local link;
ii)

strengthen the managerial leadership both at the national

regional and institutional levels to guide effectively the efforts
of all concerned sectors and individuals in achieving the goals
of the plans;

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iii)

install and make management information system operational

at all administrative levels to make sure that adequate,
accurate and reliable information are available as basis in
assessing the performance of the higher education system;

iv)

institutionalize management assessment functions of CHED

and HEIs to identify areas for improvement and possible
interventions;

v)

conduct massive training programs for decision makers and

implementers to meet their diverse training needs and improve
their implementing capacities by equipping them with current
trends in the planning, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of development programs and projects;

vi)

make available adequate human, material and financial

resources to ensure that programs and other interventions are
implemented as planned; and

vii) observe decentralization and delegation of responsibilities to

various administrative levels to allow greater participation and
involvement of all stockholders.

Implication to Philippine Development

Higher education makes up the backbone of any human resource
development plan. National development depends on higher education for
high level manpower. Higher education institutions are looked up as
sources of the manpower requirements to spur socio-economic growth of
the country.
To substantiate the preceding statements, the output of HEIs are
circulated into the economy as educated manpower which serves as

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catalysts of the development and innovation. Graduates who are
professionals and/or technicians are prime movers of productive
activities to turn the economic machinery moving. Equipped with
managerial skills, research capabilities and instructional talents, they
can provide leadership, advancement and application of new knowledge
to improve the quality of human life.
In this light, it is necessary that the goals and objective of higher
education be attuned to the needs of national development in terms of
meeting the economys manpower needs; produce the right quality of
graduates who are trained with the right skills that can fill the
requirements of the labor market; and that these HEIs tools of learning
are also of high quality to meet the situations prevailing in the
environment.

Self Activity 6 (SA6)

1. Read the EDCOM Report (Making Education Work, 1992) and
identify those important inadequacies (problems) of the Philippine
Education System that are not cited in this module.
2. After having identified these problems, cite the interventions the
Philippine government has taken to meet adequately these
problems
3. Are public HEIs adequately proving to be the government
interventions to attain its higher education program thrusts in
terms of quality and excellence, efficiency and effectiveness,
relevance and responsiveness and access and equity? Please

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support your answers by citing the actions taken by the
government with respect to public HEIs in the country.
4. As per you observation, in what ways public HEIs can contribute
to national development effort considering that most of them are
inadequate in terms of manpower, facilities curricular program and
budget?

Self Quiz 6 (SQ6)

1. What is the concept of higher education as spelled out in
Education Act of 1982?
2. Generally speaking, what are the most important finding of
EDCOM (Making Education Work, 1992)?
3. What are the program thrusts of higher education in the
Philippines?
4. How are these programs thrusts implemented by the government?
5. What contribution can the HEIs extend to national development
effort of the government?

Answers to Self Quiz 6 (ASQ6)

1. The Educational Act of 1982 declares that Higher Education will
be geared towards the quality education, equity and efficiency of
institution of higher learning both public and private so that they
can complete set of program offerings that meet national and
regional development needs.

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2. EDCOM Report generalized its findings by coming out with these
problems, viz i) that the quality of Philippine Education is
continuously declining; ii) elementary and high schools are failing
to teach the competence an average citizen needs to become
responsible, productive and self-fulfilling; iii) colleges and technical
vocational schools are not producing the manpower needed to
develop the economy; and iv) graduate research-based knowledge
needed to create more job and raise the value of production.
3. Basically in accordance with the recommendation put forward in
the EDCOM Report, CHED put a program designed to achieve i)
quality and excellence; ii) relevance and responsiveness; iii) access
and equity; and iv) efficiency and effectiveness. These goals are
envisioned to ensure the attainment of empowered and globally
competitive Filipino.
4. These goals are hopefully achieved by employing strategies and
combination of strategies that are appropriate and implementable
to each of them, namely i) formulating policies that can
operationalize these goals; ii) networking among HEIs, industry,
GOs and NGOs and CHEDs regional and national offices; iii)
strengthening the leadership capabilities of all concerned agencies
down

to

institutional

levels;

iv)

installing

and

operating

management information system; v) massive training for decision

makers and implementers; vi) providing adequate human, material
resources and funding support; vii) decentralization of CHED
functions; and viii) an institutionalize monitoring and evaluation
system.

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5. As sources of trained manpower (professional and technicians)
HEIs have to upgrade their learning tools via improving their
programs (research, extension and production) facilities, manpower
and graduates. Their graduates acting as catalysts are prime
movers of productive activities to turn the economic machinery
moving.

As

professionals,

they

can

provide

leadership,

advancement and application of new knowledge improve the quality

of human life.
Summary
This module lesson primarily focus its discussion on tertiary
education, its problems, present state, philosophy, vision, mission, goals,
program thrust, mechanism for implementation and its contribution to
national development effort.
The basic findings of EDCOM (Making Education Works, 1992) in
terms of the continuous decline of the Philippine education system, the
inability of the basic education to teach the basic competencies needed
by average citizens to participate in the affairs of the society they belong,
the poor quality of graduates turn-out by HEIs and the mediocre
graduate education, were included in the discussion.
Perusing the recommendation of EDCOM, CHED designed a
program so that higher education can produce empowered and globally
competitive graduates. This program was focused on strengthening
human resources via higher education thrusts with quality and
excellence, relevance and responsiveness, access and quality and
efficiency and effectiveness.

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At present the higher education can be described as lacking of
budget; poorly managed; private and public institutions mostly are
operating with sub-standard facilities; and ill-prepared teachers; and
administrators; and prohibitive cost of education and other school fees of
quality schools.
The

higher

education

program

was

being

implemented

by

employing strategies in terms of formulating policies that are higher

education friendly, networking between and among HEIs, GOs, NGOs
and CHED national and regional offices, massive training for decisionmakers and teachers, adequate funding support, decentralization of
CHED function and on national monitoring and evaluation system.
The HEIs as sources of trained professionals and technicians are
serving as catalysts or prime movers of productive activities by providing
leadership, advancement and application of new knowledge to enhance
the quality of human life.

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References Cited

__________ 1991. EDCOM Report. Agenda For Educational Reform.

__________ 1991. EDCOM Report. Making Education Work. Volume 2,
December, 1991.
Guerrero, J. S. 1989. Educational Technologies, Philippine Education:
Visions and Perspective. Metro Manila: National Bookstore,
Inc.
__________ 1994. Long Term Higher Education Development Plan, 19962005. Metro Manila: CHED, Office of the President Republic
of the Philippines.
Muhi, E. T. et al., 1986. Dynamics of Development: The Philippine
Experience. Metro Manila: National Bookstore, Inc.
__________

1965. Manpower and Education: Country Studies

Economic Development. New York: Mc Graw-Hill Co.

in

Nolledo, J. N. 1995. Education Acts of the Philippines, An Annotation,

Metro Manila: National Bookstore, Inc.
Ordoez, V. M. 1984. Panorama of Reforms in Higher Education. Metro
Manila: National Bookstore, Inc.

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Quisumbing, L. R. 1989. Education For Unity, Peace and Progress.
Philippine Education: Visions and Perspective. Metro Manila:
National Bookstore, Inc.
Quisumbing, L. R. 1989. Education in the Philippines: State of Practice,
Visions and Perspective, Metro Manila: National Bookstore,
Inc.
Rosas, N. 1989. Redirection In Higher Education. Philippine Education:
Visions and Perspective. Metro Manila: National Bookstore,
Inc.
Sta. Maria, F. C. ed. 1994. Higher Education Reform: Now or Never.
Metro Manila: Congressional Oversight Committee on
Education (COCED)
Sutaria. M. C. et al. 1989. Philippine Education: Visions and Perspective.
Metro Manila: National Bookstore, Inc.
Tendero, A. P. et al., 1984. Philippine Development Issues: An Inquiry.
Metro Manila: National Bookstore, Inc.

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