A bill seeking to allow Filipinos with dual citizenship to join public higher education institutions (HEIs) as faculty, researchers, or administrators has been filed in the Senate.

Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Joel Villanueva jointly filed Senate Bill No, 2733 which seeks to amend Section 5 (3) of Republic Act No. 9255 or the ‘Citizenship Retention and Re-Acquisition Act of 2003' so that individuals who retain and re-acquire their Philippine citizenship can be appointed as researchers, faculty, or administrators of public HEIs without renouncing a previous oath of allegiance to another country.

Under the said law those who retain or re-acquire their Philippine citizenship can be appointed to public office, provided that they swear an oath of allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines and renounce a prior oath of allegiance to another country.

Gatchalian noted that while this opened opportunities, it still poses as a restriction to those who aspire to serve as faculty, researchers, or administrators in HEIs in the country who still need to renounce the oath they took in another country.

Removing this restriction will create a pool of internationally competitive faculty members, said Gatchalian, co-chairperson of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) and chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education.

“Sa gitna ng patuloy nating pagsulong ng internationalization sa sektor ng edukasyon, napapanahon nang buksan natin ang ating mga pampublikong kolehiyo at mga pamantasan sa mga kababayan nating may mga dual citizenship (In the midst of our continued advancement of internationalization in the education sector, it is timely that we open our public colleges and universities to our compatriots with dual citizenships),” Gatchalian said.

“Magiging oportunidad ito para madagdagan ang bilang ng mga gurong handang magbahagi ng kanilang kaalaman at karanasan mula sa ibang bansa (This will be an opportunity to increase the number of teachers willing to share their knowledge and experience from other countries),” he stressed.

Moreover, he said, the measure would also help address issues on the global ranking of public HEIs and declining inbound faculty.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the QS World University Rankings use the international faculty ratio as one of the criteria for the assessment and ranking of universities.

The weightage of international faculty, which excludes visiting professors, is equivalent to 2.5 percent.

Appointing foreign faculty, Gatchalian said will help increase the enrollment of international students and improve the world rankings of public HEIs.