EDITORIAL - Mismatch

The Commission on Higher Education has been encountering turbulence lately in its efforts to improve the quality of tertiary education. One of its recent proposals, however, deserves serious consideration by policy-makers who several times in the past have been influenced by political and business interests to interfere in CHED decisions. In a speech last week, CHED Chairman Carlito Puno said the college curriculum must be "re-engineered" and graduating high school students given counseling so the courses they take will meet prevailing employment demands.

As an example, Puno noted that up to 350,000 students are expected to receive degrees in education in the next five years when there is a projected local demand of only about 40,000 for teachers. He said there is also a projected oversupply of graduates in communication arts, business management and even Customs administration.

Meanwhile, various sectors such as the aviation industry are having problems finding workers with the requisite skills, not just because schools aren’t producing enough of the needed manpower but also because workers are being poached by foreign employers.

Public health care, for example, is headed for a crisis, with the moderate Trade Union Congress of the Philippines reporting that the country has lost 48,000 nurses to the United States alone in the past 10 years. Nursing schools have mushroomed to meet a steadily increasing global demand — a phenomenon that has led to a decline in the quality of nursing education in the Philippines — but the country is still not producing enough nurses. Doctors and other health professionals are also leaving in droves for better paying jobs overseas, and there aren’t enough people stepping in to fill the vacuum.

Aside from offering counseling on college courses, CHED officials want tighter admission requirements for oversubscribed courses and possibly higher tuition rates. For undersubscribed courses, on the other hand, CHED officials are suggesting scholarships and some form of government subsidy to attract more enrollees. If approved, the measures will be good for both employers and new graduates who will have a better chance of landing jobs immediately upon leaving school. The mismatch in demand and supply for certain skills can still be corrected.