Mindanao State U gearing for excellence

When Camar A. Umpa was installed president of the Mindanao State University System (MSUS) four years ago, he made a vow "to save for the future". He had seen, upon assumption to the post, the need to conserve the resources of the university. The university had hired 1,300 contractual workers, many of them hired because they were relatives of his predecessors; he promptly reduced that number to 400. Hundreds of administrative employees were never paid, as their salaries had been utilized for other purposes. He had asked for a supplemental budget from the President's Office, and with proper management, back pay was given to employees; P42 million in back debts were paid, and, disgruntled employees who resorted to kidnapping, were paid "when we could".

But Dr. Umpa says the system is in need of more financing. Its budget of P1.2 billion is not enough – and has been given only a fraction of that amount – to maintain a whole system consisting of seven autonomous campuses, three Commission on Higher Education-supervised institutions, trade schools and agricultural schools. For the Marawi campus alone (where the president's office is based), a budget of P600 million has been reduced to P44 million, which is not enough to pay its employees, and has meant no travel opportunities for the faculty and staff.

But the system is making waves for its curricular offerings as well as its being a model for a harmonious relationship between Muslim and Christian faculty and students. Some of its graduates have topped the national board examinations in technical courses. Many of its faculty have doctoral degrees. Dr. Umpa himself has a PhD. in political science from the University of Hawaii , obtaining a grade point average of a perfect 4.0 for his doctoral units.

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Dr. Umpa became president of the system on Oct. 1, 1999; prior to that, he served as Chancellor II of Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology in Iligan City for 11 years (1988-1999). When he was still chancellor, he had a hand in making the system evolve into a Center of Excellence in the areas of mathematics, physics, biology and chemistry.

Mindanao State University was formally established in Marawi City on Sept. 1, 1961, with Dr. Antonio Isidro as founding president. Its mandate is to accelerate the "integration" of the cultural minorities into the mainstream of the national body politic and to accelerate the development of its service areas through instruction, research and extension.

The whole system has an enrolment of 67,000 students, 12,000 of them are at the Marawi campus, where Dr. Umpa's office is based. The other campuses are in Iligan, General Santos, Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Naawan.

The MSU System offers a total of 293 graduate and undergraduate degree and non-degree programs broken down into three doctoral programs, 37 masteral programs, 195 baccalaureate programs, ten diploma courses, and 48 certificate programs. It also has secondary and primary/elementary education (about 44 high schools and several primary/elementary schools).

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"What we want to do is to provide excellent education to enable people to improve on their economic sustenance," says Dr. Umpa. "We would like to increase the opportunities for minorities to compete with the Christians." In fact, he adds, the systems' mission is "for the integration of Christians and Muslims to study together and fraternize; ultimately, they become allies."

There is emphasis on peace and order and science and technology in the curricular offerings. Dr. Uma says, "I believe if we improve on our science and technology capability particularly through research and development activities, we can attain the capability of developed countries in 15 years."

The Philippines needs 1,185 scientists to be engaged in r & d activities for every one million persons; unfortunately, as of 1997, there were only 155 scientists in the country. On the other hand, Japan had 437 scientists for every one million persons in 1993; by 1994, the number had risen to 5,505 scientists for every one million.

An articulate and forward-looking educator/scientist, Dr. Umpa equates peace with science capability. He says that a study on democratic regimes showed that only countries with a per capita income of over $6,000 per year did not suffer from violent revolutions and coup d'etats. "Since our PCI has only been P950 per year, we have suffered from a dictatorship, coup d'etats and revolutions," he says.

"From the psychological point of view, people resort to violence to have food. That‚s why the NPA attracts a lot of people because it promises food and land. When there is income, shelter, and educational opportunities for the children, there is no reason for people to stage a revolution.

He condemns the Abu Sayyaf's activities. "I don't think it is a legitimate Muslim rebel group. It should be hunted down – jailed or killed. Our laws should be observed, we should deal with these people according to our laws, we should never allow kidnappings to take place."