UP: Remaking a great university
This is the heading of the vision statement put forward by Alfredo E. Pascual, president of the University of the Philippines, for the period 2011 to 2017, in his bid and consequent designation to the position.
Pascual is the 20th president of the university and the first president to be elected by the UP Board under the new charter, enacted on the centennial year of UP in 2008, that mandated the same as a “national university.”
I was glad to see him last week. The meeting refreshed past memories and, more importantly, turned out to be a timely and informative encounter. It gave me the chance to look at the tracks he has made so far, at the same time giving me the opportunity to review, though in a lighter conduct, the arduous and daunting path awaiting his term in bringing UP “beyond the greatness of its past”—an ideal which he readily admits could be difficult to realize “overnight” but at least “mark the path” during his term.
One UP
The underpinnings of making UP a great university are founded on its new charter, one of which is the concept that UP is one university system.
According to Pascual, this can be achieved “through unified effort” and through the “individual and collective recognition” by everyone in the system that they are—as fleshed out in his strategic plan—“One UP.”
Upon his assumption of office on Feb. 10, 2011, Pascual said he immediately set into motion an automated program that will link not only the various functioning units of the individual schools but among the constituent universities through the installation of an automated and “integrated information and communication system” that may take three years to complete.
“One UP,” however, is not just a program to address the operational considerations of his administration to attain what his strategic plan calls “administrative efficiency and financial sustainability.” It is actually a program directed to engender “unity” and “one identity” in the consciousness of the people.
While it is but proper to preserve the unique and rich regional character of our country, according to him, “One UP” is one program that will teach the body politic to overcome its tendency to put individual or regional self-interests first over the national interest; “One UP” is as well a movement directed to break the predilection of the people to congregate, for instance, “among Ilocanos or Visayans only.”
Academic excellence
Added to the original provisions of the University Act of 1908 that mandated UP “to provide instructions in literature, philosophy, the sciences and arts, and to give professional and technical training,” is the “unique and distinctive task as a public and secular institution of higher learning, and community of scholars dedicated to the search for truth and knowledge as well as the development of future leaders.”
UP is particularly required in its new charter as well to open its educational program and services to “disadvantaged students, such as indigenous peoples, poor and deserving students, including but not limited to valedictorians and salutatorians of public high schools, and students from depressed areas,” with the added provision that “no student shall be denied admission by reason solely of age, gender, nationality, religious belief, economic status, ethnicity, physical disability, or political opinion or affiliation.”
Pascual says the foregoing policy statements substantially summarize the greater concerns and bigger challenges of his presidency. Taking center stage is the sad and disheartening observation that UP is losing its position as the center of academic excellence.
In the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings, UP ranked 262nd in 2009, 276th in 2008 and 398th in 2007, but its ranking turned south in the last two years: UP sunk lower to 332nd in 2011 as it tanked to 314th in 2010.
He takes consolation, however, from the 2011 Asian rankings of Philippine universities where UP was No. 62, Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) No. 65, University of Santo Tomas (UST) No. 104 and De La Salle University (DLSU) No. 107.
Per subject in the same survey of 2011, UP ranked as follows: in Arts and Humanities, it was No. 20, ADMU 29, DLSU 59 and UST 103; in Natural Sciences, UP was No. 39, ADMU (was better at) 38, DLSU 98, and UST 104; in Engineering and IT, UP was No. 63, ADMU 89, DLSU 113, and UST 170; in Social Sciences, UP was No. 27, ADMU 46, DLSU 79 and UST 136; in Life Sciences, UP was No. 37, ADMU 64, DLSU 74, and UST (beating ADMU and DLSU at) 61.
Pascual attributes this drop of performance by UP as largely due to lack of sufficient fund and regular government support, which is further complicated by the fact that up to now, there are no implementing rules and regulations (IRR) yet passed by Congress to enable UP to avail itself of its zero VAT privilege status, among others.
(The writer is a licensed stockbroker of Eagle Equities Inc. You may reach the Market Rider at [email protected], [email protected] or at www.kapitaltek.com.)
