Educational agenda for Pangasinan
By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo
REVIEWING the rankings for the educational institutions in the Philippines, it is evident that Pangasinan universities need to take measures to improve their overall standing among educational institutions in the country.
The ranking was sourced from the “2021 Philippine University Ranking of 232 Philippine higher-education institutions” published by uniRank, based on the following selection criteria:
- a) being chartered, licensed or accredited by the appropriate Philippine higher education-related organization;
- b) offering at least four-year undergraduate degrees (bachelor degrees) or postgraduate degrees (master or doctoral degrees); and
- c) delivering courses predominantly in a traditional, face-to-face, non-distance education format
uniRank aimed to “provide a non-academic League Table of the top Philippine Universities based on valid, unbiased and non-influenceable web metrics provided by independent web intelligence sources rather than data submitted by the Universities themselves.”
Three universities in Baguio City were among the top 100 list: St. Louis University ranked 16, University of Baguio ranked 54, University of the Cordilleras at 71, and University of the Philippines Baguio at 74.
The only university who made it to the top 100 was Pangasinan State University (PSU) with a ranking of 91. Of the 232 institutions included in the ranking, with the exception of PSU, the private universities performed as follows: University of Pangasinan (154), Lyceum-Northwestern University (159), Northern Luzon Adventist College (194); University of Luzon (209); and Colegio de Dagupan (212).
In the 2020 census, Pangasinan Province registered a total population of 3,163,190. Benguet Province has a population of 460,683 with Baguio City (366,358) comprising 80%. Of the 80%, a considerable percent comes from the transient student population in Region 1 (the province of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan; and the cities of Dagupan, San Carlos, Alaminos and Urdaneta in Pangasinan; Laoag in Ilocos Norte, Vigan and Candon in Ilocos Sur; San Fernando in La Union). There are many reasons why, despite being the 6th most populated province in the Philippines, and its proximity to the student population in Region 1 and Baguio City, Pangasinan is not getting its potential share of enrollees.
I remember there was an initiative to formulate a common educational agenda in the province many years ago, what happened to it? Whether it was implemented or not, it is time to revisit whatever output those meetings came up with and re-assess opportunities for the enhancement of the educational system in the backdrop of current changes forced upon it by the pandemic. For example, how do we improve the quality of education in general, and what mechanisms do we need to adopt in delivering educational services in a fast-evolving digital world that may depend less and less on classrooms?
While it is incumbent for the universities to act, this should be complemented by a parallel act of the provincial government to invest in its human capital by seriously looking at ways to improve the capability of the mind that can sustain its future. It is not enough that aspiring leaders dole out goods during calamities and during elections, or construct basketball courts, although these are important to encourage community-building and enhance overall health. They must among other things, plant trees, conserve marine resources (not mine it), create employment, and must develop a social infrastructure to birth a new generation of Pangasinan leaders, apart from their own families.
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