MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
Education, as parents and teachers and the incoming government see it, is the biggest challenge facing the youth of the fatherland. It must be a matter of grave concern to us all, alumni or not, that UP has slid from its 2021 ranking of No. 84 to 129 in a recent survey of Asian universities.
On the bright side, as Popoy de Vera of CHED happily reported to the “Legacy Summit” of the Duterte cabinet, there was a “three-fold increase in the number of Philippine universities” in a second list of 1,406 universities in 106 countries.
The two lists, one global and one Asian, were published by the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings.
The 10 top spots in Asia are occupied by China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Tokyo. Our De La Salle maintains its position at 401-500. In the global list, Ateneo de Manila with a rating of 101-200 leads 15 other universities worldwide in terms of meeting the United Nations’ sustainability development goals.
For CHED, the most interesting part of the ratings must be that several of our universities outside NCR are in the global list: Mariano Marcos U, Central Luzon State U, Tarlac Agricultural U, Mindanao State U, Iligan Institute of Technology, Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology, Visayas State U, Cebu Technological U, Tarlac State U.
In Metro Manila, it’s the usual leaders — UST, Mapua, San Beda, University of Asia and the Pacific, and St. Paul Manila. UST’s Jhoone Cyrelle Nacario topped the last CPA exams.
Meanwhile, the faculty and alumni of Bulacan State University Law School are in seventh heaven after 100 percent of its graduates passed the 2020-21 bar exams, with three exemplary passers, all girls: Erica Cruz, Ma. Scharmaine Flores, and Mia Micha.
The story goes that for five years, the College of Law was a squatter in the College of Engineering, until Senator Fred Lim allocated P30 million for their own building, plus another P10 million from Rep. Marivic Alvarado.
“All good things come to those who wait,” as Atty. Pete Principe, founder of the law college, will tell you. It might have taken them 20 years to produce 350 lawyers – prosecutors, judges, law professors – but they did it, all in good time.