The Philippine Higher Education

System:
Current Trends and Developments

NONA S. RICAFORT
Commissioner

Commission on Higher Education

COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED)

 The Philippine Higher Education System
Characteristics

Uncommonly large

Number of higher education institutions (HEIs)

- 1,710 without the satellite campuses
- 2,036 including the satellite campuses
Number of students: 2,565,534
Ratio of HEIs to population: 1:55,0001
Participation rate: 21%2 of total college age
population (16-22 yrs old) in techvoc or higher
education
Transition rate from graduation to higher education:
50% of high school graduates go to higher
education

COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED)

 CHED and the Higher Education System

Under the trifocalized approach to the management

of the education sector, responsibility over the 3
sub sectors was divided among:
 Department of Education - for Basic Education
 Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority (TESDA) - for Technical Education
and training, and
 Commission on Higher Education (CHED)- for
Higher Education

COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED)

 Philippine Higher Education
System:Composition, 2006-2007
Type Number % Total Number % Total
of HEIs of Students

TOTAL 1,710 100 2,565,534 100

PUBLIC(without satellites) 196 11.3 877,712 34.2

State Univs & Colleges 110
Local Univs & Colleges 70

Other Government Schools 16 5,432

CHED-Supervised Institutions
Special Higher Education
Institutions 5 1,043

PRIVATE 1,514 88.7 1,687,822

65.8
Non-Sectarian 1,215 1,101,269
Sectarian 299 496,573
COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED)
 Philippine higher education
institutions: Classification

Based on ownership and legal basis

Public HEIs – created and governed by their own

charters or enabling laws
 SUCs – created by state legislation which serves as their
charter
 CSI – non-chartered, directly supervised by CHED1
 LUCs – created and generally supported by local
government units (LGUs)
 OGS- techvoc schools offering higher education programs
 Special HEIs- attached to and supported by other
government departments, ie military,
Department of Interior & Local Govt, etc

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 Private HEIs – created under the
Corporation Code and governed by special
laws and the general provisions of the Code.

 Sectarian – run by religious organizations

Non-sectarian – either non-stock/foundation

(not-for-profit) or stock/proprietary (for-profit)2

COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED)

 Mandates of CHED
Per RA 7722-Higher Education Act of 1994
RA 8292-Higher Education Modernization Act of 1997

 Promote quality education

 Ensure that education shall be accessible to all
 Ensure and protect academic freedom for
-- the continuing intellectual growth,
-- the advancement of learning and research,
-- the development of responsible and effective
leadership,
-- the education of high level professionals, and
-- the enrichment of historical and cultural heritage

COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED)

 Goals
 Access and equity

 Quality and excellence

 Relevance and responsiveness

 Efficiency and effectiveness

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 Given the diverse composition and the uneven
development of the HEIs, producing
differential products at different costs, how
could CHED make the components behave
and move as one system towards common
goals and objectives?

COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED)

 Current Programs

For Improving Access and Equity

 Ladderized Education Program (LEP)

Expanded Tertiary Education,

Equivalency and Accreditation Program
(ETEEAP)

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 Ladderized Education Program

Provides articulation mechanism between

techvoc education and training and higher
education – thru:

Credit transfer
Post TVET bridging program
System of enhanced equivalency

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 Adoption of ladderized curricula
Modular program approach
Competency based program
Network of dual sector colleges and
universities
Accreditation of prior learning

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 Tech-Voc to Ladderized Degree Program

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 LADDER OF EMPOWERMENT

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 LADDERIZED EDUCATION
First enroll in a
Tech-Voc course
to get College
credits, to rise to a
Job Platform, to
work to earn
money and to save
for College tuition.

COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED)

 Expanded Tertiary
Education, Equivalency and
Accreditation Program

 An educational assessment
scheme which recognizes
knowledge, skills and prior
learning obtained by
individuals from non-formal
and informal education
experiences
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 For Improving Quality

 Center of Excellence and Center of Dev’t

(COE/COD)
Accreditation of Programs
•Levels of accreditation
Institutional Monitoring and Evaluation for
Quality Assurance (IQUAME)
• Categories of HEIs
Transnational Education (TNE)
Academic Mobility
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 COE/CODs
 Programs that have consistently exhibited
excellent qualities in instruction, research and
extension
HEIs with COEs/Ds are supported to become
world class institutions
There are now 109 COEs/Ds in Science and
Math, Business and Management Education,
Teacher Education and IT

COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED)

 Voluntary Accreditation
Private, voluntary and program-based –
process for recognizing programs that achieve
standards of quality over and above minimum
requirements/standards set by CHED
There are 4 bodies1 performing accreditation-
each makes its own accreditation
criteria,designs its own processes and
instruments, selects and trains its own
accreditors. All use similar processes and
basically cover the same indicators/review
areas but judgment levels vary.

COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED)

 Accreditation levels and benefits*

Applicant Status - for programs certified as

capable of acquiring accredited status within
2 years.

Level I - HEIs with this status are given

partial administrative deregulation

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 Level II - Benefits include full
administrative deregulation, partial
curricular autonomy, financial deregulation
in terms of setting of tuition and other
school fees and charges, and authority to
graduate students from accredited courses or
programs without prior approval of CHED,
priority for funding assistance for
scholarships, library materials, laboratory
equipment and other development activities,
limited visitation, inspection and/or
supervision by CHED

COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED)

 Level III - Programs that have at least been
reaccredited and that meet a reasonably high
standard of instruction as evidenced by the
qualification of the faculty and a highly visible
community extension program, plus any 2 of the
ff: Visible research tradition, strong staff devt
tradition, highly creditable performance of
graduates in licensure examinations, or strong
linkage with other schools and/or agencies.
Benefits include all those for Level II plus full
curricular deregulation, including authority to
offer new courses allied to existing Level III
courses, without prior approval of CHED

COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED)

 Level IV - Institutional accreditation.
Requires recognized distinction in a number
of academic disciplines and prestige
comparable to international universities.
Benefits include all given to Level III plus
grants/subsidies from HEDF and grant of
charter for full autonomy from government
supervision

COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED)

 Institutional Monitoring
and Evaluation for Quality
Assurance (IQUAME)
CHED monitors –
Quality of inputs, processes and
outputs of HEIs, to determine areas for
improvement and appropriate
development interventions
IQUAME is developmental and
outcome-based

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 Transnational Education
CHED formulated a new set of Policies,
Standards and Guidelines (PSG) for
Transnational Education – to provide
framework for regulation and quality
assurance of TNE

CHED and Philippine HEIs are actively

participating in UMAP and other
academic programs promoting
international mobility of faculty,
researchers and students
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 Reform Initiative
for Improving Efficiency and
Effectiveness
Grant of autonomy and deregulated status to
schools with

 high performance in licensure examinations,

 Level III accreditation (for autonomous) and
 Level II accreditation (for deregulated) of at
least 3 programs
 Presence of Center(s) of Excellence/
Center(s) of Development
 Untarnished reputation
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  At present, CHED granted
autonomy to 31 private HEIs and
deregulated status to 44 HEIs

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 RESEARCH IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Under Section 8 of R.A. 7722, CHED is
mandated to enhance the research functions
of higher education institutions(HEIs) in the
Philippines.Pursuant to this mandate, CHED
recognizes the need to decentralize the
promotion and management of research in
order to broaden, outreach and provide the
research support needed by the HEIs more
effectively, efficiently and equitably.
Research programs:
*Research grants
*Supports paper presentations
*Enhance productivity( republica award, best
research, outstanding extension programs)

COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED)

 Academic Mobility - Academic
exchanges between Philippines
and foreign universities have
steadily increased over the last
two decades. Philippine Higher
Education Guide (2000 and 2005)
showed that most of the
country’s COEs and CODs
participate actively in academic
mobility programs.

COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED)

 Majority of the students who
participate in exchange
programs are in four courses:
•Science and Mathematics
•Business
•Economics
• Computer Sciences and
Liberal Arts

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 Faculty exchange program is
also becoming popular. There
are initiatives on visiting
professors, fellowships and
sabbatical leave abroad.

Majority of the college faculty

involved in mobility programs
are specialists in International
Studies, Science and
Technology, Engineering,
Business Administration and
Research.
COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHED)
 Bilateral and multilateral
agreements help facilitate the growth
of academic mobility.
Some of these programs include ;
•the University Mobility in Asia and the
Pacific (UMAP)
•Komaba Program of the University of
Tokyo,
•Asia and the Pacific Forum,
•Global Youth Exchange Program,
•ASEAN Ship for Southeast Asia,
•APEC Youth Network, and
•Reciprocal Government of Canada
Scholarship Program.
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