Chapter 043: "A Study on Local Universities, the case of PLMAR and PUP-SJ" by Prof. Toti Dulay and Prof. Bryan Ortiz

Far Eastern University

UNIVERSITY RESEARCH CENTER

APPLICATION FOR UNIVERSITY RESEARCH ASSISTANCE GRANT

RESEARCH DURATION OF THE PROJECT: April to May 2013

RESEARCH TITLE: A Study on Local Universities, the case of PLMAR and PUP-SJ

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY:

The higher education institutions (HEIs), or tertiary-education institutions, in the Philippines total 1,823 as of Academic Year (AY) 2010-2011.  Of these, 219 (12.01%) are public HEIs and 1,604 (87.99%) private HEIs.  Clearly, the tertiary education level is private-sector dominated.  Of the 219 public HEIs, 110 (50.22%) are state universities and colleges (SUCs), 93 (42.46%) are local universities and colleges (LUCs), and 16 (7.31%) are other HEIs or special HEIs.  As to the 1,604 private HEIs, 334 (20.8%) are sectarian and 1,270 (79.1%) are non-sectarian (CHED statistics, 2012).

          According to CHED’s Memorandum Order No. 10, series of 2005, a local university and college is “a public higher education institution established by the local government through an enabling ordinance, and financially supported by the concerned LGU.”  The Memo Order adds that in Filipino, the translation of LUC is dalubhasaan for college and pamantasan for university. 

Some LUCs previously started out as community colleges. Even today, there are LUCs that call themselves “community colleges.” The former education secretary, Dr. Cecilio Putong, clarified in 1971 that a community school is one that is established “in the community, by the community, and for the community” (Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/>, on December 18, 2012). Indeed, past community colleges were created and funded by the local councils whether provincial, city, or municipal.  Such pattern has remained the same, with the same councils, now called Sangguniang Panlalawigan, or Sangguniang Panglunsod, or Sangguniang Bayan respectively, initiating the creation of the local university or local college, or community college, in their locality, and allocating funds for it.   

The LUCs, as educational institutions, draw their rationale, mandate, if not resource, from both the1987 Constitution and Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991, both of which provide the public policy framework for public HEIs.

Alongside the educational policy agenda was a complementary one endorsed by international donors and institutions.  This agenda was local autonomy and/or  decentralization, which was a reaction against excessive centralization and abuse by tyrannical leaders all over the world.  Local autonomy was also propped up by the agenda of participation, and the new international buzzword, governance. 

          Decentralization through devolution enabled LGUs to have a free hand in charting the course of their own development.  LGUs were empowered as an extensive portion of the power, authority, responsibilities, and resources of the national government was devolved to them (Dayrit, 2005).

The above mandate prompted many city governments to establish and operate LUCs. Of course, not all LGUs have done so. Only those LGUs that have the wherewithal or can financially afford to run and operate tertiary-level schools can.  Another factor may be the development orientation of the local chief executive (LCE). 

RELATED LITERATURE:

In the Philippines, the decision to invest in education is a family affair, with the children accepting the advice of their parents or the parents sharing their opinion with the children but it is the latter who decide what career to choose.  The essence is that there is a sharing of views, dialog and communication, consultation, all of which occur because Filipino families are characterized as close-knit.

          The family decision is of course based not just on what their college-bound child wants.  It is also based on household capacity to pay.  A low-income earning family compared with a high-income earning one will have different decision outcomes:  the former will choose low-cost degrees and schools while the latter opts for expensive degrees and schools

          The other prospect, which is for the Filipino family, is to have a son or daughter help back the household add earned incomes, to increase the household’s income, to help in the expenses of the household, and to help in the further schooling of younger siblings, if not to take over the breadwinning tasks from the parents (Dulay, 2003).

The Long-Term Higher Education Development Plan 2001-2010 sums up the key role of the higher education system in the Philippines:  as a contributor to the education and integral formation of professionally competent, service-oriented, principled, and productive citizenry (Garcia, 2004: 1).  Poverty reduction, according to UNDP (1997: 77) requires three basic elements:  empowerment of the people through education to ensure access to opportunity, social investment, and sustained livelihoods. Greater access for the poor to the educational system can reduce poverty and inequality

          Tan & Miao (1971) described the educational system as dominated by private schools with small enrolments.  More than half of them offered very few fields of specialization concentrating on just three fields:  education, liberal arts, and business.  Balmores (1990) used 1987-1989 data and found that the top three fields of specialization chosen by students were commerce and business management (29.17%), engineering and technology (20.25%), and teacher training/education (18.02%). 

In AY 1995-96, the three most chosen disciplines were:  business administration and related areas, engineering, and education and teacher training (Ibe, et al, 2004: 108).  Business administration attracted around 22 percent of the total number of students in AY 2004-05. This was followed by medical sciences (17%), education (16%), and engineering (14%) (CHED, 2010: 9).

The Task Force on Higher Education or TFHE (1995) explained that science and mathematics education attracted few students since the labor market for scientists had not been developed.  Research opportunities in the sciences were too limited.  The supply of graduates always exceeded the number employed.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

The two cases of Marikina City and San Juan City raise a few general questions:   How have these two city LGUs responded to and fared with the delivery of tertiary-education services to the urban poor youth in their respective cities?  Are they in the direction towards attaining their tertiary education goals in their localities?

          To answer the big question, some sub-questions have to be addressed in the process, namely:

1.    In delivering tertiary education services to the poor via the city government-funded university (PLMAR of Marikina City and PUP-SJ of San Juan City), what have been the common and persistent problems in these two local universities to which their city LGUs must attend and solve?   Do the problems have to do with:

a.    poor student services and facilities,

b.    poor quality of teaching,

c.    less competitive salaries of the faculty,

d.    budget constraints,

e.    poor coordination between LGU and LUC, and

f.     employability of graduates?

2.    To what may be attributed as the cause or causes of the above problems? 

3.    What creative and innovative ways and means have the city governments of Marikina and San Juan, in coordination with their respective local university, used in response to their own local university’s problems? What mechanisms and strategies did they harness to help solve the local university’s problems?

4.    To what extent have the following city LGU resources and capabilities played in responding to the problems of the local university, namely:

a.    city government leadership,

b.    quality and quantity of personnel and staffing,

c.    well-defined organization,

d.    managerial and technical expertise,

e.    funds and equipment availability,

f.     city government-local university relations, and

g.    relations with other public agencies, private sector, and civil society?

5.    Given limits in resources and capabilities, have the responses of the two city governments to their local university’s problems been adequate and effective, resulting in positive outcomes such as:

a.    improved and responsive student services and facilities,

b.    better fiscal management,

c.    more competitive salaries of teachers

d.    harmonious coordination between LGU and LUC,

e.    majority of graduates passing the licensure examinations,

f.     majority of graduates getting a job, and

g.    contribution to city development.

6.    Given the findings from the study, what lessons and insights may be gained for theoretical and practical purposes of the study?  What implications may be raised that bear on educational policy and public administration policy?

METHODOLGY:

Research Design

          The study is classified as a qualitative study and it uses descriptive explanatory analysis in the investigation of the data.  The research design used is the case study, which is the appropriate approach to examine a pioneer research subject, which is the city government’s educational services provision in the tertiary level, yet an unstudied area.

Data Sources

          Two general categories of data sources are made use of:  the primary and the secondary data sources.  The primary sources of data in this study are the responses of top city hall officials and top local university officials to the questions posed to them in the questionnaire. Interview with the key informants will be arranged for this matter.  The preliminary interviews with students and selected employees at the city hall will be conducted, with the questions centered on what problems they perceived in the local university funded by the city LGU.

The secondary data sources involve the content analysis of the document files and records available at the relevant offices of the city hall and the local university.  From the city hall, the secondary sources gathered included annual reports, receipts and expenditures, the budget, proceedings of the Sangguniang Panglunsod (SP), proceedings of meetings between the city hall officials and the local university officials, of the Education Committee of the SP and of the Oversight Committee for PUP-SJ, employment of graduates, among others.  From the local university, the materials sourced were brochures, minutes of meetings, enrolment figures, total school charges during enrolment, and annual reports.

          Secondary data sources also came from CHED and from journal articles, books, theses and dissertations from various library units in the University of the Philippines, notably from the NCPAG and School of Economics unit libraries.

The Respondents

          A preliminary set of respondents consisting of students of the local university under study and selected employees of the city hall was asked via an informal interview to identify the problems of the local university.  The problems identified formed the bases of the conceptualization of the framework of analysis as well as the formulation of the statement of the problem of the study.

In the data gathering proper, the study will have two sets of respondents.  They consist of key informants from both the city hall and the local university.  The key informants are top officials in these public offices.  At the city hall, the key informants are the city mayor, the vice mayor, selected members of the Sangguniang Panglunsod, the chair of the Education Committee of the Sanggunian, the treasurer, including in the case of PUP-SJ, the Oversight Committee.

          At the local university, the key informants are the university/college president, vice president for academic affairs, the vice president for administration, the human resource development officer, and the treasurer.

          As key informants, they possess important knowledge of the organization and are privy to the concerns of this study.  Hence, their responses are considered reliable and substantial for purposes of the study. 

The Instruments

          The study makes use of various instruments.  The first one is the content analysis of documents gathered and collected.  The second is the interview guide as a preliminary instrument and at the same time supplementary instrument to the main instrument, the questionnaire.  The interview guide is for students of the local university and for the employees at the city hall, and conducted preliminary to the questionnaire.  The latter instrument is for the key respondents. 

          In the preliminary interview of a few selected students and employees, the aim is to identify the problems of the local university.  The respondents were asked to identify the problems they perceived and observed in the local university (See Appendix 2).  Although HEI problems are almost the same, the preliminary interview of selected students will provide a grounded and school-specific perspective of the most pending problems of the two LUCs covered in the study.

In the study proper, the main instrument used will be the structured questionnaire designed to get the responses of key informants.  The researcher’s own background and familiarity with city hall affairs guided him to initially draft and organize the questionnaire.  This was refined after consultation with the adviser.  The refinement came in the form of deletion of some original question items, or merging some of those that seem to ask the same question.

The questionnaire is made up into two parts.  One is the socio-economic profile of the respondent.  The other is the set of questions relevant to the study.  The latter portion (the question set) is composed of open-ended questions.  For convenience, it is subdivided into the responses at the time that the university was about to be established, followed by responses at the time that the local university is already in operation.  They all ask the key informant what the city hall or local university has done to answer the tertiary-education needs of the city’s residents in two different phases of the local university’s existence.

The Data Gathering

          The secondary sources, that is, the secondary materials, were the first gathered from relevant offices.  It is expected that the researcher will encounter difficult time with approaching city hall offices even if the information sought is for public use and despite the implementation of the anti-red tape law and the full disclosure policy of the government.  To avoid such difficulties, a formal letter from the researcher’s adviser that is addressed to the official concerned may be of great help. 

          The secondary sources of data provide valuable information that may only be waiting to be confirmed and validated with the findings from the questionnaire.  They triangulate with the other kinds of data generated from other sources.

          In administering the questionnaire, the researcher will have to seek the permission of the respondents.  This is because the interview takes time from their work at the city hall or at the university. A research aide will have to be hired to take down the responses while the researcher is communicating with the respondents.  The time that it will take for the interview to finish is estimated to be 30 minutes.  In case that some responses may appear vaguely responded to, the researcher may have to conduct a follow-up interview for those few question items where the response of the informant was vague.

          The timetable for data gathering is one month.  Two weeks is the length of time reserved for the interview of the city hall key informants, and another two weeks for the local university key respondents.

The Data Analysis

          After all the data have been gathered, the data analysis begins.  Responses are grouped according to common themes.  Frequency in terms of number of responses and the corresponding percentage are made use of.  Only the first ten common responses are tabulated, the rest whose frequency counts only up to one count are all lumped up as “others.”

          Data may also be displayed not just in tabular form but also in pie charts or bar charts for an alternative way of displaying and interpreting the data.

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REFERENCES:

Aquino, S. & Bagcal, C. (1981). Tuition fee control, equalization of educational opportunities, and quality of education.  LG 993.5   1981  E2   A686  Econ

Balmores, N.R. (1990).  The quality of higher education in the Philippines.  Quezon City: UP-Center for Integrative and Development Studies.

Biglete, A.A., Garcia, L.S., Bustos, A.S., & Salazar, R.C., Jr. (2004).  Strategies for quality and excellence.  In M.D. Valisno (Ed.), Commission on Higher Education:  A decade of service to the nation (37-    ). Pasig City:  CHED.

Caoili, O.C. & Valenzuela, E.A.P. (2004).  Internationalization of higher education:  Patterns, trends, status, and direction.  In M.D. Valisno (Ed.), Commission on Higher Education:  A decade of service to the nation (153-     ). Pasig City:  CHED.

Capuno, J.J. (2008-2009).  A case study of the decentralization of health and education services in the Philippines.  HDN Discussion Paper Series No. 3.  School of Economics, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Quezon City.

CHED (2004).  Annual Report 2004.  Pasig City:  CHED.

Dulay, S.C. (2003).  A strategy for the Institute of Accounts, Business and Finance of the Far Eastern University.  A Management Research Report submitted for the degree of Master in Development Management, Asian Institute of Management, Makati City.

Garcia, E.A. (2004).  Rationalization of the public higher education system.  In Garcia, E.A. (Ed.), Managing a modern university in the Philippines (1-25). Quezon City:  The University of the Philippines Press and the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies.

Ibe, M., Perez, R.P., & Quebengco, C.P. (2004).  Meeting the challenge on access and equity of higher education.  In M.D. Valisno (Ed.), Commission on Higher Education:  A decade of service to the nation (107-152).  Pasig City:  CHED.

Macasaet-Barro, M.M. (2001).  Pamantasan ng Makati:  Innovative educational strategies to ensure graduate employability.  Case study, Asian Institute of Management, Makati City.

Republic Act No. 7160 (1991). An Act Providing for a Local Government Code of 1991. 

Tan & Miao, E. (1971).  The structure and performance of Philippine educational institutions.  Discussion Paper No. 71-12.  Quezon City:  School of Economics, University of the Philippines.

Valisno, M.D. (2004).  Introduction.  In Commission on Higher Education:  A decade of service to the nation.  Pasig City:  CHED.

http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/>, retrieved on November 25, 2012.

City of San Juan.  Tagumpay ng San Juan.  Retrieved from http://sanjuandemo.wordpress.com/>, on March 7, 2012.

Higher education in the Philippines.  Retrieved from http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/>, on December 22, 2012

PUPSJ celebrates 1st anniversary.  Retrieved from http://pupwsj.webs.com/>, on December 24, 2012.

PROPOSED BUDGET FOR RELATED EXPENSES:

Photocopying –       P1000

Office Supply-         P500

Transportation –     P1500

Bonding -               P500

Total :                             P3,500

Submitted by:

PRINCIPAL PROPONENT:

SOFRONIO C. DULAY

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR III

RFT, IABF

0917-5937333, 645-8424

CO-PROPONENT:

BRYAN JOSEPH G.ORTIZ

INSTRUCTOR

LFT, IAS

0908-3175550