THE PROGRESS OF HIGHER EDUCATION: EXPANSION OVER QUALITY

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.