realization that other national universities in the region'4some much younger than our own'4have overtaken us. But rather than be mortified at this turn of events, we ought to be challenged and motivated toward greater effort for UP's sake and for the sake of the country which continues to count on UP as a national resource.
Toward this end, UP will continue to exercise its claim for national support commensurate with its status and achievement as the country's premier state institution of higher learning. The University has been relatively successful at generating government budgetary support through the years. We have asked our supporters and friends in Congress to draft a UP modernization bill as the enabling act to launch UP's bid to upgrade its capability to backstop the country's drive toward rapid economic growth and development in the 21st century.
In UP Plan 2008, we have defined economic nationalism in the global era in terms of transforming the Philippines into a significant base of global production, by enhancing the nation's .ability to retain and attract foreign and domestic factors of production. As the locus of the production, transmission, and preservation of knowledge, promoting the international competitiveness of UP likewise involves enhancing its ability to retain and attract the best students,
faculty and staff, and to maintain the loyalty of its alumni.
This requires the upgrading of its physical infrastructure to world standards as well as improving the competitiveness of its "soft" infrastructure such as remuneration, governance, and the climate for academic work. The latter refers to the observance and preservation of UP's academic traditions and culture, that is, the pursuit of excellence, academic freedom, and advocacy.
Given the enormity of the catching-up effort we have to undertake and the fact that UP competes with equally deserving claims on scarce public funds, we realize that relying on government budgetary support for the bulk of our funding needs may not be tenable over the long run.
Hence, we are introducing innovative means of higher education finance. Developing UP's idle land grants into revenue generating assets is one such financing innovation.
Mobilizing the support of the UP alumni, especially from those who benefitted the most from their UP education, is another.
Viewed from an insular perspective, the plans we have outiined above may seem overly ambitious to some. But in the light of global realities and our people's aspirations to build the nation they deserve, we can afford to do no less.
MESSAGE T01997 FRESHMEN
places new demands on us, as individuals and as a nation.
Whether we like it or not, whether we are ready or not, we must compete with the best in the world, or we shall be a country of losers.
It is UP's responsibility to see to it that our people are able to hold their own in the global race. UP must identify which among the sectors of the Philippine economy are potential winners and which may be losers. Moreover, UP must help provide safety nets for the marginal sectors, even as it leads the winning sectors. In short, it is UP's task to ensure that the Filipino nation as a whole is able to compete well in the global arena. For we must compete not as ethnic groups or even as economic sectors, but as a people.
Globalization has not altered this basic principle.
UP's role is of course defined by its commitment to education which in turn is premised on the truth that people are a nation's most important resource. A highly educated pool of human resources is a key factor in economic growth and national development. UP's mission is to educate and train Filipinos to become world-class professionals who will lead the nation toward economic advancement. Toward this end, the University has drawn up UP Plan 2008, a master plan for enhancing the university's capacity to respond to the needs of the country in the new millennium.
"' ",wo main thrusts are embodied by UP Plan 2008: the raising of standards and the democratization of access to a UP education. These are the twin goals of excellence and equity. Let me briefly discuss each goal.
First equity. Studies reveal that over the years, the number of UP students from the lower socio-economic brackets as well as from the poorer provinces has been declining. We have instituted several measures to remedy this situation, among these: the improvement of the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program {STFAPI first implemented in 1989; the establishment of UPCAT test centers in far-flung provinces, and an affirmative action program by the Ugnayan ng Pahinungod to ehcourage high school seniors to take the UPCAT and improve their chances of passing the test by means of remedial courses in English, Math and Science.
We are also opening our doors to more freshmen enrolees with the establishment of UP Mindanao to encourage more high school graduates from our third largest island to attend P. The expansion of UP College Baguio into the UP Northern Luzon is likewise being planned. Meanwhile, the UP Open University, which makes use of distance education methodologies to extend the reach of instruction beyond the classroom, continues to grow. Using standardized instructional materials prepared by subject matter experts and aided by computers and telecommunications- facilities, our best teachers are teaching more students than would be possible in conventional face-to-face instruction. When our distance mode capabilities are fully in place some time in the future, the university will be able to grow at an exponential rate, and every educator's dream of providing quality continuing education with the least cost to the greatest number, will become a reality.
Our efforts to effect a more even distribution of the student population in terms of their geographic origin and socia-economic status given academic merit, is based both on social justice and economic grounds. Given the uneven distribution of wealth among the population, a more equitable distribution of the opportunity to acquire quality education will improve the life chances of poor but academically deserving college students. Also, being a national university supported by public funds, it behooves UP to see to it that more bright students from the less
privileged sectors of Philippine society who compromise the majority of our people are admitted into and graduated by UP.
Claims to the contrary notwithstanding, democratizing access to a UP education does not mean a lowering of academic standards. As the premier institution of higher learning in the coimtrv, UP is expected to maintain national standards of excellence but beyond this, UP must upgrade its academic standards to meet international standards of excellence. Being the locus for the creation, transmission, and preservation of knowledge, UP must sustain academic excellence in instruction, research and extension to keep abreast of the rapid pace of global developments in knowledge and technology. Otherwise, the technological gap which results from the failure to sustain excellence will develop into an economic gap that means lower standards of living for our people.
Toward this end, we are developing the various UP units into national centers of excellence. UP Los Ballas has long been a regional center of excellence in agricultural education and research. UP Manila, with its National Institutes of Health, is a center for world-class training in heallh care delivery and medical research. We are also building up the UP Diliman College of Engineering to become the center of excellence in the engineering sciences. The National Engineering Center and the National Graduate School of Engineering are already in place. Our emphasis on the upgrading of engineering education and research in the country is envisioned to close the technological gap separating us from our more dynamic neighbors. Being conceptualized is the creation of a center of excellence in fisheries, marine sciences, and oceanography as a collaborative endeavor of the UP Visayas College of Fisheries, the UP Diliman Marine Science Institute, and the National Institute of Geological Sciences. In addition, UP elementary and high schools are now acknowledged centers of excellence in basic education. Our lead in the arts has also long since been recognized and we are safeguarding this areaof comparative advantage by making all UP campuses centers of arts and culture.
Cutting across all these is the improvement of instruction in all disciplines by means of teacher training, the , development of instructional materials, the reduction of class sizes, the' adoption of multimedia teaching technologies, and the establishment of Learning Resource Centers to help students cope with the academic
requirements of UP .
In fine, UPwill continue to uphold standards of academic excellence while pursuing programs designed to increase student enrollment. Unlike private colleges and universities which can afford the luxury of maintaining a constant population in order to maintain or improve the quality of the education they offer, UP must expand even as it maintains its high academic standards.
The contrasting socia-economic consequences between a model of higher education, which privileges excellence alone, and one which emphasizes both excellence and equity can be gleaned from the contrary experiences of Latin American countries and the East Asian newly industrialized countries. Most Latin American countries where development is unevenand poverty rampant, favored the Napoleonic grandes ecoles model even among government-run universities: that is, the development. of exclusive schools offering quality education to the elite.
In contrast, East Asian countries have pursued the equitable distribution among their people of opportunities for human capital formation especially but not limited to higher 63
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education in the sciences and engineering. This more open and egalitarian educational system has resulted not only in higher economic growth but also in a more equitable distribution of income and wealth in these East Asian NICS.
For this reason, the latter is the higher education growth path which UP is trying to emulate.
The fact that UP remains the top-ranking university in our country today even as it has expanded in size is proof of the soundness of the twin pursuits of academic excellence and growth with equity. This has been made possible because UP continues to generate sustained material and moral support from government, its alumni, and other sources - for the twin pursuits of excellence and equity cost money.
Atso, unlike private schools, UP cannot pass on to its students the full cost of instruction. While we will continue to exercise' our claim on scarce public funds commensurate with our standing as the country's leading state institution of higher learning, we realise that we cannot demand more than our fair share lest we crowd out the equally deserving claims tor support by the rest of the Philippine education system at the elementary, secondary and tertiary levels.
Thus, in order to maintain academic standards while subsidizing the cost of educating its students, UP must of necessity institute innovative means of higher education finance. These include generating funds from UP's land grants which constitute an alternative form of government subsidy, and soliciting endowments from UP alumni, especially those who benefited most from their UP education.
The development of our land grants, particularly the Commonwealth Property, has been the object of much controversy lately. Let me assure you that such use of our assets is well within our legal and institutional purview. In 1930, the Philippine Legislalure passed Act No. 3608 which gives to UP land grants "to be held and administered as a permanent endowment for additional support and maintenance." Act No. 3608 further provides that "the Board of Regents cannot sell or alienate all or any portion of these lands without the previous consent of the Philippine legislature, but otherwise it may perform any act or enter into any contract regarding the same, subject to and in accordance with the provisions of the Public Land Act and the Corporation Law." Moreover, Act No. 3608 states that
"all incomes, receipts and profits from the administration of these land grants shall form part of the general fund of the University of the Philippines subject to appropriation by the Board of Regents and devoted only for the purposes for which said university was established." Sixty-seven years later, we ask: what has UP done with its land grants? Barring the use of very small portions of property for one reason or another, the answer to this question is: nothing. We have allowed our land grants to lie idle and unproductive. Worse, we have left them vulnerable to illegal use by informal settlers. Meanwhile, our soft and hard infrastructural needs are growing at a rapid pace and more and more demands are being made of us by government and the Filipino public.
And we must keep up with the best universities in the region and the world.
Thus far, we have been lucky. The material and moral support we have been receiving from government and our
alumni have not slackened or diminished. It has in fact grown through the years. However, because our needs and responsibilities as a national university have grown even faster, we must significantly augment our resources.
Furthermore, our benefactors can only be as generous as we are worthy of their generosity. Ifthey see that we are exercising fiscal responsibility, and that their donations are being invested wisely in University programs that will benefit the nation, then they will not tire of providing us the support that we deserve.
This is not wishful thinking on our part. During the 1997 Grand Alumni Homecoming, some 850 UP alumni resolved to support UP's modernization initiatives. In the Senate, a bill for the modernization of UP has been filed by Senator Orlando Mercado. A twin bill has been filed in the Lower House by Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and Representatives Rolando Andaya, Feliciano R. Belmonte Jr., Elias B. Lopez, Carlos M. Padilla and Jose Carlos V.
Lacson. A companion measure to the revised University Charter, the bills state that:
"It should be emphasized that the University has al- ready taken significant steps to develop the sub- sidy that the Filipino people have provided in kind, namely, its land grants and real property, as a vital means of internal resource generation toward its own modernization. Therefore, the Trust and En- dowment Funds that we introduce in this Bill are to be seen as a well-deserved encouragement to a re- sponsible and self-reliant national university, and the Filipino people's contribution to the further mod- ernization and quest for excellence of a major part- ner in nation-building and development."
This, my dear freshmen, is the big picture in UP today.
It might seem too complex and grand to some but to the country's best and brightest youth, it is nothing less than what should be expected of the nation's premier institution of higher learning. This big picture might evoke awe in those of us who are viewing it for the first time but it should also excite and challenge us to greater heights of achievement. Forty years ago, I too was a 16-year old probinsiyano, awe-struck by the large university whose portals I was entering for the first time. In the months anr years that followed, my awe was replaced wit h a desire to stake my claim on the institution and to become involved in its endeavors. I am sure you, too, will experience this transformation for in the end, our degree of involvement is what will make our stay at UP memorable.
A UP education is not only about developing the mind.
It is about building character as well. So, even as you strive for academic excellence in your chosen fields, you should not miss the many opportunities for participation in cultural activities, student organizations, sports. and volunteer service, for it is through these that you will develop in yourselves the values of self-reliance, initiative and planning, critical and creative thinking, industry, integrity, and a sense of public service. These are the values that set the UP student apart.
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__ lHE UNM:RSrlY OF lHE PHILIPPINES
VOLUME XXVIII, NUMBER 3 July-September 1997
ISSN No. 0115-7450CONTENTS
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70 69 69 69 69 70 Page
Collection of Fees: CBA, UPD Graduation of Students
DONATIONS, GRANTS, AND GIFTS ACADEMIC MATTERS
Donation for Bishop Santiago A. Fonacier professorial Chair
Deed of Donation with De Leon, et al Information Management Service Office, UPM L1ames Award and Professorial Chair
Transportation Allowance of STFAP Recipients Authority for Autonomous Universities
POLICY MATTERS APPOINTMENTS
lll1TH MEETING, 31 JULY 1997 Memorandum No. 97-80: Constitution of AU
Campus Landscaping Committees
Memorandum: University Symposium Series:
Symposium I
Memorandum: Discussion Series on Policy Re- search Discussion No.1: Pinatubo Studies
Appointments, reappointments, promotions, etc.
Transfer to Permanent Status Professorial Chair
University Officials Heads of Units
Extension of Service Beyond Compulsory Retirement
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