World Bank urges higher education budget

Oct 15, 2011
by Roderick T. dela Cruz
Source: manilastandardtoday
(Conclusion)

The World Bank report says tertiary education spending in relation to gross domestic product was lowest in the Laos, Cambodia, and the Philippines. Ratios are higher in Vietnam, Indonesia, and especially Malaysia.

“To increase spending in tertiary education, Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines should consider increasing their education spending in relation to GDP. High tax shares to GDP would suggest more potential for public spending increases,” it says.

It added the Philippines’ public tertiary expenditure stood at only 0.34 percent of GDP, compared with Indonesia’s 1.2 percent, Malaysia’s 1.69 percent, Thailand’s 0.71 percent. In 2010, overall public education expenditure in the Philippines was just 2.8 percent of GDP, compared with 4.13 percent in Malaysia and 4.12 percent in Thailand.

The report says graduates from private universities and colleges in the Philippines were not doing any better. “Similarly, in the Philippines, graduates from private institutions are less likely to be ranked good than those attending public universities or polytechnics,” it says.

“Even in the Philippines, the fact that only about 30 percent of private sector university graduates are considered good [against about 40 percent for the public sector] indicates that either the average quality of demand-absorbing institutions is still not good enough or that there is scope for more semi-elite institutions [or more enrollees in semi-elite institutions],” it says.

Policy was also pointed out as an area needing reforms. “Similarly, delayed regulation in the Philippines may also have played a role in the low quality of some institutions,” it says.

The report cites the results of a survey showing that some 30 to 40 percent of firms report quality to be an important or very important issue in Indonesia and the Philippines.

It says making the Philippines’ higher educational system more responsive to labor market demands and the economy as a whole will boost the country’s drive for growth and global competitiveness.

Across the East Asia and the Pacific Region including the Philippines, employers expect workers, particularly those with higher education, to possess the technical, behavioral, and thinking skills to increase their productivity and growth, it says.

The report says skills gaps are particularly large in the service industry, export sector, and technologically intensive sector representing a very serious bottleneck for innovation and productivity in the Philippines. Employers and employees find these gaps to be particularly severe in creativity, leadership, and problem solving skills.

The report also highlights the importance of shifting investments towards building the country’s research capacity, particularly in higher education institutions.

It says the Philippines should address skill gaps by maintaining coverage and improving the quality of higher education graduates, and increase research relevant to economic needs in a few universities or departments.

It cites the need to complete the process of granting autonomy to universities (with particular focus on staffing and finance) and strengthen the role and functions of university boards. It also suggested that the government improve the quality of private higher education through better regulation and information.

It encourages selected university-industry linkages to improve curriculum relevance, support entrepreneurship, and help with technological upgrading (build on the positive examples of some existing university partnerships with firms in skills delivery.