Press Release
September 8, 2011

EDUC REFORM NEEDED TO IMPROVE PHL RANKINGS--ANGARA

Senator Edgardo J. Angara lamented the deteriorating quality of higher education in the Philippines following the release of the latest annual Quacquarelli World University Rankings which shows that the top four universities in the country had all dropped in the list.

"This should serve as a wake-up call for the stakeholders in the education sector. These numbers should urge us towards the much-needed reforms," said Angara.

The yearly report by international education company Quacquarelli Symonds rounds up the top 600 universities from all over the world using the following indicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty and international students.

The nation's top four universities all moved down this year's rankings. None of them also made it into the top 300.

Even the regional rankings showed the poor performance of our schools: the University of the Philippines (UP) in 62nd place, Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) in 65th, the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in 104th, and the De La Salle University in 107th.

According to Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Education, Arts and Culture, Philippine universities do not necessarily lack dedicated faculty and students.

"What these schools need is more support from the government and private sectors in the form of grants, subsidies and scholarships so that the students and teachers can access all the resources they need for world-class projects and studies," he explained.

Angara also cited exchange programs with different countries as good learning experiences for both visitors and hosts.

"We must also pursue more undergraduate and graduate exchange programs with countries that have excellent educational institutions. We can learn not just from their academic programs, but we will also be exposed to better school policy and development," explained Angara.

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