Press Release
May 10, 2008

ANGARA CALLS FOR IMPROVEMENT IN U.P. ADMISSION

Senator Edgardo J. Angara called for a review and improvement of the system of admission to the University of the Philippines, saying that the UP must "be an elite, not elitist, institution of higher education."

"Today, it is mostly students from good private schools in urban centers who make it to UP. It is becoming less representative of the country's geographic and demographic sectors," he said.

He added, "during my time, all valedictorians and salutatorians from all over the country studied in UP. It created a good mix of student population."

Angara proposed that apart from the UP College Admission Test (UPCAT), there should be a personal interview and a mentoring system where UP professors will give tutorials and reviews to students from far-flung provinces whose level of education may not be at par with national standards.

Currently, applicants for freshman admission are required to take and pass the UPCAT. Apart from a student's performance in the UPCAT, high school grades are also considered. Weighted standardized scores on the UPCAT subtests in Language Proficiency, Reading Comprehension, Mathematics and Science, and the weighted average of final grades in the first three years in high school are combined. Last year, there were over 66,000 UPCAT takers.

Speaking at the UP Centennial Donors Night, Angara also said that the University of the Philippines (UP), in its next 100 years, must find its role in the highly complex, competitive and innovation-driven world, and respond to the demands of a growing Filipino population.

"On its second century, UP must be well prepared to produce a creative work force which generates the wealth of the world at present. After 100 years of exceptionally providing leadership for our country and producing the best scientists, engineers, and artists, we must take UP to where it should be: competitive in science and technology, and in the humanities."

He said that "times have changed. Lifestyles have changed, the content of work has changed. When UP was founded in 1908, there were only 8 million Filipinos. Today, our population has grown to 89 million. In three years' time, there will be a hundred million Filipinos."

"Educational institutions must respond to these changes. Even more so for UP, as the national university," said Angara, who heads the UP Centennial Commission which is raising P5 billion for the University.

Angara added that employment has become global and we are threatened by brain drain.

"The curriculum of every educational institution must be globally-oriented because work demands it now. But because of this highly-globalized trend in the workforce, we are also losing our best and brightest to other countries. Therefore, the educational system must continually produce, educate and train young people, otherwise we become empty of qualified workers," he said.

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