In Filipino, pamantasan (root word, pantas - expert , wise person) means institute for higher learning. Thus, as its name suggests, higher education has been the central interest of the Pamantasan Council since its establishment in 1987. Comprised of Filipinx administrators, faculty, and staff from across the ten campuses of the University of Hawaiʻi System, Pamantasan advocates for the representation of Filipino-American and Philippine representation in university curricula as well as to support and to recognize achievements in higher education among Filipina/os.
30 years after Pamantasan was formed, its work continues to be important. Today, Filipina/os comprise just under a quarter of all student enrollment in Hawaiʻi’s public schools. This makes them the second largest ethnic group in the DOE, behind only Native Hawaiians. Still, they continue to represent only 13 percent of all students in the University of Hawaiʻi System. With most Filipino/a students enrolling in UH’s community colleges, they remain underrepresented in UH’s four-year institutions. At UH Mānoa, for example, only 10 percent of all students identify as Filipina/o. Moreover, only 7 percent of all Hawaiʻi DOE teachers and 4 percent of faculty in the UH System are of Filipina/o ancestry.
During the 2022 Session, the Hawai‘i State Legislature passed and adopted SCR 132, Requesting the University of Hawaii to Report on the Pamantasan Council's systemwide efforts to improve the status of Filipinos at the University of Hawai‘i.
This report is currently in the works.