School courses don’t match jobs needed by industry
James Konstantin Galvez
Manila Times
Commission on Higher Education Commissioner Nenalyn Defensor said Thursday that the growing “mismatch” in the skills of graduates to current job market requirements, and the increasing problems on the quality of tertiary education in the country can be traced to the large number of courses being offered by various colleges and universities.
In an interview during a meeting between the Presidential Task Force on Philippine Education Reform with the Foreign Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Makati, Defensor said that a number of the courses offered are not responsive to the needs of the industry. However, she did not identify the courses.
“The bigger problem is the multifarious academic programs offered,” Defensor said.
Defensor revealed that there are around 12, 000 academic programs being offered by the 1,200 private tertiary institutions, 111 state colleges and universities and 64 colleges operated by local government units.
Earlier, Militant group Anakbayan scored government policy makers for the increasing number of jobs-graduate mismatches.
“If the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is really sincere in its promise of generating six to 10 million jobs by 2010, it should address the problem of unemployment and underemployment with concrete and long-term plans and not with knee-jerk solutions,” the group said in a statement.
Anakbayan said the more than 400,000 new college graduates this year are left with three choices—either to go abroad, accept jobs that do not match their degrees or become idle.
“Besides, these jobs are unsustainable for graduates who want to have a permanent career,” the group added.
Higher education commission statistics office Chief Charlie Calimlim said most graduates come from medical and allied courses, particularly nursing courses, as well as from business and related programs.
The medical and allied programs ranked fourth in previous records of the commission. However, latest records showed that nursing students comprise nearly a quarter 632,208 of the 2.5 million enrollees for school year 2007-2008.
Meanwhile, graduates in education and teacher training number 63,258, engineering and technology 54, 493, and information technology and related course 42,372.
Commission records also showed the problem is worsened by the proliferation of “fly-by-night” and “hole-in-the-wall” colleges that are lacking in facilities.
Need to tailor curriculum
Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Donald Dee acknowledged the problem and said there is a need to tailor the curriculum offered by the universities and colleges to the needs of the industry, if the government is serious in addressing unemployment.
“There should be an adjustment or revision in the curriculum in the identified fields where there is a need,” Dee said.
Newly appointed Commission Chairman, Dr. Manny Angeles, vowed to intensify the crackdown on substandard schools as part of the measure to upgrade the quality of tertiary education in the country.
Alarmed by the problem, President Arroyo ordered the creation, through Executive Order 652 dated August 11, of the task force that will identify critical manpower and skills requirements, and to establish linkages between the private sector and the academe.
That move seems to be long overdue.
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