It is no longer news that graduate (or more accurately postgraduate) qualifications are needed in getting a job promotion especially in the government sector and more increasingly in the private sector. In the higher education sector, a masters qualification is the minimum needed in employment as a regular faculty member in a teaching college. This is a CHED requirement and most universities and colleges implement it. In a research university such as UP and more increasingly in DLSU, Ateneo and UST, a PhD is the minimum standard. In basic education, teachers are required to upgrade and get their MEd degrees. If a teacher wants to be a principal, he/she may need a DEd degree.
I will not dwell on why academe requires these quals but I will dwell on people outside academe who need that masters degree for promotion and tenure. In government, a masters is becoming the norm for being appointed as a section head. If you are gunning for becoming agency head, it is a plus if you have doctorate. Thus we see many government mid-level executives enrolling in masters and doctoral programs.
In the private sector, a professional masters appears to be the norm for promotion. Thus some people working in telecoms and the financial sectors enroll in the various professional programs. Among the most popular programs aside from the MBA (which is now being seen as not that necessary) are statistics, management, engineering, computer science, communication etc.
Physicians and other health care professionals even have to consider a postgrad qualification. Many take epidemiology, hospital administration, public health and medical statistics. A doctor told me that this is a necessity if one wants to get into the WHO and earn a few dollars with the usual expat perks. (hey I’m not talking about the Aussie doctor caught in Rockwell!) I know of a Pinay doctor who after getting the medical statistics qualification, immediately was taken in by WHO in Geneva and heads the project on teenage smoking!
With postgrad qualifications becoming increasingly necessary, the market is growing. DLSU,Ateneo. UE and UST have instituted innovative programs that cater to the working stiffs. UP has not been left behind and various programs have been instituted and an open university is offering these qualifications by distance mode.
The question is the cost of going through these programs. Postgraduate tuition in private schools have increased. It is no secret that while undergraduate tuition increases were frozen, postgraduate tuition has been increased in some cases by 100%
Cognizant of these market trends, UP ‘s constituent campuses and colleges are now reviewing graduate tuition rates. At present tuition fees are much lower than the undergraduate rates at 500-600 pesos per unit. Some colleges propose that the fees be raised to 2500 / unit! Many colleges are proposing at least a 100% increase at 1200 pesos per unit.
If the UP Board of Regents approves the increases from 1200-2500 pesos / unit, this would put UP graduate tuition fees at par with Ateneo and DLSU. The main rationale for increasing graduate tuition fees is not really for improving facilities (undergraduate tuition fee increases are supposed to do that!) but to retain and attract professors who will teach the postgrad courses. In the sciences, humanities and social sciences, many of the professors are regular full time faculty members. They have to teach the graduate courses. The problem is acute in the professional schools where lecturers from industry are invited to teach. However even if these professorial lecturers love UP, the pay they get as lecturers is no longer worth it considering many of them work in the Makati and Ortigas CBDs and commuting to UP has become costly.
These pay concerns are understandable. Many lecturers consider their teaching bit as “utang na loob” to the UP and the professors that made them success stories in the private sector. My concern is with the government employees. Many of them pay tuition fees out of pocket. A lucky few have DOST, DA or NEDA scholarships. As for the teachers, not a few pay out of pocket. Some are lucky to have DepED or CHED scholarships. Even for the mid-level private sector employees have raised concerns about the fee increases. Only a few companies offer a employee scholarship program or even a time off from work to study program. Many graduate students especially those with families to care for are “irregular” attendees. Some enroll one semester and gone the next and come back next year. But all universities have maximum residency rules. If your exceed these, you either pay a fine or take additional courses. Thus the cost increases.
Some people who have been made redundant by the economic recession are having thoughts about graduate school. What are your thoughts on the matter?
Popularity: 1% [?]
UP should raise the tuition.
It is a shame that there is an extremely low number of scholarships available to public school teachers, but that is a different issue. UP should raise the tuition to at least P1,500 per.
I agree with you UP n grad since the 600 per unit fee is more than a decade old. In my department we need to hire an Environmental assessor from industry to teach the environmental impact assessment course. Grad tuition fees cannot cover his honorarium. Kailangan pang utangin sa undergrad tuition fee yung differential!
However I believe that at least for the government employees, their agencies should subsidize their tuition fees if they want to develop their staff.
As for the teachers, that is another matter we have to talk about.
Undergraduates subsidizing graduate students is unfair.
Wow!!! I did not realize how cheap tuition fees are in the Phil. still. I just finished a grad course recently here in Calgary and I paid about $800.00 so that must be about 32000 PHPesos. Mag PHD na yata ako diyan!!! May age limit ba ang PHD diyan?
@rosa- Hindi cheap ang tuition sa pinas. I graduated in Phils as a Aircraft Engineer, my tuition is around 100,000 pesos per semester and that was 10 years ago.
Having to increase the tuition is not timely as of this time, there should be a thoroughly study regarding this matter so all parties (student,university/school,teachers) will have a win-win situation.
Allan,
Rosa went to grad school in Calgary so if you compare the tuition of the Philippine colleges with the Calgary colleges, the difference is HUGE.
@meeh- Do I have to show you a simple mathematics? Cost of Living vs. income vs. expenses… Just compare it to both country. Its still expensive in the phils when it comes to education.
And That is one of my reason why i migrated so i can afford the education of my kids.
Allan,
The tuition of Philippine colleges is still WAY less expensive than the tuition in Calgary even if you consider the cost of living.
Do your simple Math calculation.
I thought you were saying in your blog that they are proposing the tuition at UP to be at least 1200 pesos ( 100% increase). The Calgary tuition was only for one course so for a full-time student, the cost would be 160,000/semester. So simple math would say that for a 5 course full load sem would cost 60000 pesos at 1,200 pesos/sem. Plus cost of living will be lower in Phil. Don’t argue with me on this since I just visited Phil. and I was amazed at how cheap food prices (fresh food)there compared to here, not to mention clothing and rent.
The lure of UP is prestige, the time-tested reputation that UP is where the cream-of-the-crop is. Another is the low tuition fees.
Raise the tuition and where would those potential cream-of-the-crop UPCAT qualifiers who can’t afford it goes but to the lesser schools. Those who can afford the high tuition will go to the more prestigious schools like Ateneo and La Salle.
You raise the tuition…you remove the lures. No lure…no fish will bite.
It’s a double edge sword!
HA!HA!HA!HA! “CREAM-OF-THE-CROP” HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!
How many hundres of thousands of students graduated from UP … where are they now … what have they done with all their rallies, protests and marches … HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!
How many hundreds of thousands of Pinoys graduated abroad … where are they now … what have they done? HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!
LOOK, Let’s get down to it. Diplomas are there for decoration. FILIPINOS can be educated but cannot learn!!!!
No, Dummy…I’m here. I graduated in the Philippines and in the
U.S. I have a good business, and run it like a good pro. Knowledge
is really Power.
The tuition of Philippine colleges is still WAY less expensive than the tuition in Calgary even if you consider the cost of living.
Do your simple Math calculation.
Flips are crazy … let me illustrate … assuming you are a UP Harvard Graduate ruled over by pekeng-amerikano (Flim-Flam). If you speakengese in crude management buzzwords, pekeng-amerikano wouldn’t understand you.
The enxt question these SMsaleslady supervisors would be if you’re so good why are you there and i’m here?
HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!
sO IF YOU SPEAKENGESE GOOT MANAGEMENT BUZZWORDS YOU’LL NOT LIKELY MOVE UP IF YOUR BOSING IS A FLIP!!!!!
HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!
GIT REAL!!!! SIMPLI LANG MAHIRAPAN PA!!!!!
Agree. No one wants to have a Filipino boss because the minute you start to rise up, he will be the first to tear you down. I had a very bad experience on this when the person who recommended me for a job became insecure and started to undermine me. The solution was to leave for another job. Fortunately I found better jobs and also I followed my dream to be an entrepreneur and I have been successful so far.
Rosa, Rosa, Rosa, TAKE IT FROM ME!!!! I didn’t do extra mile, I did thousands of extra mile … I DIDN’T JUST BEING LED, COMMANDED, CONTROLLED AND I MEEKLY FOLLOW, I propose something that is beyond their COMPREHENSION. What they cannot comprehend, DON’T EXIST.
Filipios are there for being commanded … THAT IS WHY THERE ARE NO ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO AMERICA BY FILIPINOS … What is there to accomplish and contribute when they just follow …
IS FOLLOWING an accomplishment? IS FOLLOWING a contributions? Filipinos in America are led by the ear ….
You are quite racist. That problem extends to many Asians and Europeans bosses too.
There you go again blackshama with your name calling. What Renato and I experienced I wished was the exception but there are too many stories that I have heard to prove otherwise. Even some Filipino nannies that I have spoken through the years to do not want to work for a Filipino employer because of this potential problem. I am sure that there are good Filipino employers out there, but one comtemplating to work for another Filipino should be very careful.
First, I am a bit misled on the proper definition of a postgraduate. Doesn’t it mean the course one takes after having done a graduate course or program, say a master’s degree? Thus, postgraduate would mean possibly a Ph.D. program, or a program of study after a graduate course. A master’s degree is therefore not a postgraduate degree.
Second, I don’t really understand the contemporary trend of having to require masters’s degrees for those who teach in college or those in government to be able to occupy the position of section or division chief. Or why indeed?
What happens is that government employees simply enrol in diploma mills, or the schools that are almost friendly enough to grant diplomas without you really trying. In short, a master’s degree taken from supposed-to-be ‘lesser institutions of learning will satisfy such a requirement. This, in the unseen process, fails to develop the capacity of government employees for higher positions of responsibility requiring higher intellectual attribute.
Lastly, there is a tradition all over Europe that one can actually be an acknowledged expert in a particular field of specialization – with or without MAs, PhDs. Sometimes, the best teachers in UP are those with no MA after their name but had thought for many many years. Do they need a master’s or PhDs to be great teachers, great professors?
Primer
first I agree undergrad= college grad,but now it is already means drop-out.
Somewhere down the road someone changed the definition.(di lang yata dito sa pinas)
grad = masters
post grad= doctorate
now on those requirement for credentials.
I know In grad school, they require doctorates,but since many universities lack PHDs,DBas, they changed the requirement to must enroll in a doctoral program.
same with teaching college, masters were a requirement, but if the school is in need of teachers or instructors they just take a look at the transcript of the applicant during his undergrad.It is still a matter of supply and demand.
Wow! They allow Bachelor’s degree holders to teach in UP?
In the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan and other advanced countries, the person MUST have at least a Master’s degree to be allowed to become College Instructors and Professors.
…and for some courses, they MUST have a Doctorate degree.
Primer, I take post-graduate from reading foreign newspapers, da Vinci Code, Devils and Daemons, etc… that is my post-graduate …
Not one mass-com and journalism graduate from UP who took up masteral and post-graduate studies have wrestled me on the mat when it comes to Ces Drilon kidnapping news blackout, Ayala’s economic paradigm shift on “terrorism is good for the economy”, Justice Sabio v MERALCO VERSUS Joey de Venenta v GMA … NOT ONE!
THEY CAN TAKE POST-GRADUATES ALL THEY WANT They can quote Shakespeare, Lenin, Marx, John Adams, etc all they want but they still cannot answer my very very very very simple question above!
I’d rather be not post-graduate than post-graduate who cannot answer simple questions.
You can’t even frame a decent sentence with the proper noun verb agreement! Reading an American newspaper should have taught you that!
You know what I hate this Flips in America? They’d say, “kasi si Renato graduate ng la Salle, e” This really riles me. It boils my blood. What I know is not from la Salle. What I know is from the Americans. What la Salle taught me is Jesus Christ made all things happen …
HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!
Will Americans make good La Sallians like you? HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Americans will never step foot in la Salle. Because Americans don’t want to be indoctrinated on our state-sponsored religion.
HA!HA!HA!HA!HA! Name a school in Flipland where they don’t pray before class … AH!HA!HA!HA!HA! That cannot happen to Americans ….
We pray and our prayers are ignorated by your God, Jesus Christ! JESUS CHRIST MUST BE LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK OF VATIKAN!!!!
HA!HGA!HA!HA!
You forget that America brothers footed the bill for establishing La Salle!
If you like to be an Employee as a Career. Then, PhD, MA, etc…are
needed to get ahead for pay. If you have talent in Entrepreneurship.
We dont need them. All you need are Guts and Common Sense…
Bill Gates of Microsoft Corporation is a good example.
Exactly.
The MBA will tell the Entrepreneur he will not succeed, because that’s what Graduate school taught him.
The Entrepreneur will succeed because he does not know that the school teaches he is supposed to fail – Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellision, Sam Walton, and Lucio Tan will tell you that :lol:
At the end of the day, the MBA applies for a job with the Entrepreneur.
C’mon Bill Gates had to go back to school to get his degree!
No one ever told Bill Gates or Steve Jobs that they were going to fail. It was “professional employees” inside IBM that gave project-dollars to Bill Gates, for example. It always had been “professional employees” inside corporations that were pronouncing as solid and workable the ideas from Bill Gates (and others), and they kept sending them contract dollars.
The image of a drag-down contest is flawed. Corporate-America practices less of talangka and more of who can get the job done according to the functional requirements. Along the way, of course, are crooks like that Pinay embezzler within MCI-Telecom, the super-greedy crooks of Enron, and petty crooks inside small-, mid-sized and large-corporations of all varieties. And Blago, not to forget Blago.
UP:
It’s a different story in the pinas.
Bill Gates would have been bought out by ABS-CBN or Sky Internet or any of the subsidiaries of Ayala, Lopez, Tan, Gokongwei, Cojuangco – and he’d become a whistleblower investigated by the Senate, who will be sued for perjury :lol:
How many people are as successful as Bill Gates then?
Be realistic!
Depends on definition of success – the question really is how many people have Bill Gates mindset – and how many people don’t have Bill gates mindset.
BongV,
A lot of people have Bill Gates’ mindset.
However, they either do NOT have the money or NOBODY wants to finance their ideas… because it is a GAMBLE.
Here’s a reason why I intentionally misspell my posts with broken english to boot.
1. My mind race faster than I can type;
2. I don’t make drafts when I posts;
3. I don’t review my posts;
4. My keyboard (damn, always the keyboard) needs W-20;
5. To catch your attention so I can dispel Filipinos english and spelling arrogance
6. This site is not gentlemen’s club;
7. let’s have fun;
8. serious makes one old
9. it takes few muscles to laugh; more muscles to frown
10. bad english makes people read twice to understand without them knowing that my point clings on their consciousness
11. bad english is a test of a site whether they are tolerant to english or not. If they are not tolerant that means they are only good in english but not in logic
12. bad english is good to correct your good english
OK LET’S HAVE FUN … I’M TAKING A SABBATICAL … you’ll not be hearing from me anymore unless some juicy blogs comes up!!!!
tooood ooooo looooo!!!!! HAVE FUN!!!!
They dont mind it. Just keep Posting in the Blog…Someone will
be interested in your opinions.
tour de looo doo re looo !! don’t sabbatical too long. We need them all — bad english which is very understandable and even bad english that is not understandable and the good english which sells WD40 (plus, of course, the good english which sells Religion or lack-of-it).
I learned my English from American Episcopalians. You have to realize how prim and proper Piskies are!
… daaang
… i treasure my first inles booklet >>> PEPE EN PILAR…
… sally struthers made me the “face of flipland poverty”… i learned my inles in her bedroom long before human dildo was envogue…
I love you, mann! They are denegrating my englischtzes language!!!!!
I was supposed to be on Sabbatical untl you showed up, Pareng Ulo ……
Now I’m back.
ONCE A BLOGGER, ALWAYS A BLOGGER :)
This is not a Grammar school.
As long as the other person understands what you want to say, that should suffice.
You know who always act as Grammar Police even for non-sense stuff?
Yes, Filipinos.
Ha ha ha!
That does not sound like DJB, does it?
It’s stereotypical RP?
Undergraduate – a baccalaureate degree
Graduate – a master’s degree
Post graduate – a PhD.
The above is the order of academic credential.
You are exactly right on the order of academic credentials.
Undergraduate is Bachelor’s degree.
Graduate is Master’s degree.
Post-Graduate is Doctorate degree.
In the Philippines, they call those who didn’t finish their Bachelor’s degree as undergraduates.
They then call Master’s degree programs as Post-Grads.
They are confused.
Ha ha ha!
In addition, after gaining a PHD, one can go further and attain a post doctorate degree
A bachelors degree holder is a graduate. Those who don’t have the degree but expect to graduate is a graduand.
When you go back to school for a Masters or a PhD then you are a postgraduate.
A Master or a PhD student who expects to graduate is a candidate.
The root of this European usage is in Holy Orders. Seminarians preparing for ordination are ordinands. Once ordained as a priest, they are ordinates (but that usage has fallen out of use and they are simply referred to as clerics). Once the priest is sent by his bishop for further studies usually for the doctorate in theology, they undertake post ordination studies.
And law is just another baccalaureate degree.
Attorney is not even a title, ask blackshama of its history.
Not anymore. US law schools award the Juris Doctor degree and this is a postgraduate qualification. UP last year awarded its first JDs.
JDs however by convention are never addressed as “doctor” unlike MDs!
… in ‘merka, y’all don’t need formal education to have titles added to your nom de guerre…
… dr dre, for one… queen latifah… lord mayhem… etc., etc… only flipflams are wrapped up with titulos…
… in flipland, our latest doc is none other than da king himself >>>> DOC PAC…
… who needs: BS bullsh!t; MS – more sh!t; PhD – pile high, deep…
… daaaang
… are there any grammar police on board?
… bekos my greyd payd seksyon payb balibago elem iskul bukol diploma is all i have…
… so, folks, be gentle on me…
Unfortunately, any degree from the Philippines is not that much respected in the international community.
When you apply for a job in the US, Australia, Japan, UK, Canada, etc., and your degree is from the Philippines and you are competing with job applicants who hold degrees from US, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, etc., with exactly the same experience and degrees, guess who will be hired.
Philippine college degree holders (Bachelors and Masters, sometimes even Doctorate) compete for the same jobs with US high school graduates.
If a Filipino who graduated college in the Philippines and apply for a job and is competing with a Filipino who is a US high school diploma holder, guess who will be hired first.
Ask Terry Hatcher and the rest of Hollywood stars … They don’t want graduate englsichtzes speaking Flips from “…some med school in the Philippines”
Waaaaa! Waaaaa! Waaaaa!
They are hired because of their American accents and the color of their skins…Not because they are smarter than you.
On the example that I gave, they are BOTH Filipino… so they have the same skin color.
You are having your typical Filipino mentality that the Americans and other advanced countries are being prejudiced or racist against Filipinos.
On top of it, they do NOT TRUST Philippine education.
Admit it or not, that is the truth and truth HURTS, doesn’t it?
As what Renato Pacifico have already implied, why do you think the TV shows and movies in Hollywood make fun of Philippine degrees?
@meeh- you are partially right. because that is only for a newly grad people.
Now when applying for a job in US, UK etc. and having a degree in the phils but having a extensive job experience aside from working in america, and you will compete with a person who is having a degree in US but doesn’t have enough experience. who do you think the employer will choose?
Well if you have a faux American accent, who gets hired?
Allan,
Read my example again and COMPREHEND, I said that the applicants HAVE EXACTLY the same degrees AND experience.
One from the Philippines and one from US, UK, Australia, Canada, Japan, etc.
Who do you think will be hired?
In the US, the one with the higher-degree AND the required visa AND can do well during face-to-face interviews AND have good local references get the job. Lack of proper visa is fatal. Broken-English can be fatal.
That is exactly the problem here in Canada. The reason they say that Phil. credentials are lacking is because of our short span of elementary and high school education (10 to 11 years) whereas here in Canada and other western countries, a high school graduate, from kindergarten to high school spent 13 years. So a college degree holder from Phil. is equivalent to a second year university student here. For engineering grads, they are automatically assessed exams because of this even grads from UP.
blackshama,
There can be a bit of a confusion still for the JDs to have been considered is US law schools as a postgraduate.
For instance, I have yet to hear my sister who graduated law from Ateneo (her undergrad from UP)being called Doctor rather than attorney. In short, probably it never really happens to those JD graduates, it just being nominal.
Further beside, if law is an undergraduate course, how indeed can one be said to have taken a postgraduate sans a master’s degree in law or jurisprudence? One step in the educational ladder has been skipped?
Meeh,
Did you know that there are not few of us who even think that a diploma in economics earned abroad is the exact equivalent of a master’s degree here?
By the way, it is generally much easier to take a master’s or a PhD abroad than in here.
Primer,
It is not generally easier to take Master’s or PhD abroad than the Philippines.
In other countries, the school research projects and papers are way too many and they check the QUALITY of each work.
However, the Professors and the Instructors abroad do NOT EMBARRASSED their students in front of other students.
In the Philippines, the Professors and the Instructors EMBARRASSED their students in front of other students and it is a COMMON scenario.
HUGE difference.
One of the differences of a degree earned abroad is that your professor and the author of the textbook can be one and the same.
It is harder to get an MSc or MA or PhD in the Philippines since we follow a more inflexible coursework and research program. However the catch is even if it is “easier’ to get a PhD or Masters abroad, the ONLY BASIS FOR AWARDING the degree is the thesis (especially for the PhDs) if you can’t focus your life for 4 years on getting that thesis right, then you won’t get your degree. Your life isn’t measured in semesters but the whole time needed to get the thesis/dissertation defended.
blackshama,
You are WRONG when you said that the ONLY BASIS FOR AWARDING PhD or Master’s degree abroad is the thesis because BEFORE you can work on your thesis, you have to COMPLETE and PASS all the other course requirements first.
[I use PhD and postgrad almost interchangeably, though I consider postgrad as a general term to mean either an MS, MA or PhD.]
IMHO, the cost of a PhD degree should be a non-issue for academics, as it is an essential in their profession. A scholarship pays for their fees, maybe a state or industrial one. Lack of funding for an academic who is deemed an asset (or a potential one) in his/her field of research ought to cause concern. (In the context of the Philippines, I do not know nor have the means to argue where these monies should come from or where to find it.) This would be a lost opportunity for the institution/state, if not the community, to gain ‘progress’ from this candidate’s expertise. I say ‘progress’ referring to the long-standing premise of an awarded PhD degree: a new contribution to the advancement of knowledge.
So who gets these scholarships? Those who either market themselves well or are readily recognised as ‘assets’, or just those lucky ones who happen to be in the right place at the right time.
One good thing to gain from low fees: those overlooked for funding can pay on their own. It’s good in the sense that aiming for a degree becomes attractive to most of those (unlucky ones who didn’t get a scholarship/funding) who are drawn to research, or just the “pursuit of higher learning”. What’s not so good about it, is that resources (e.g., time spent by few professors on tons of marking and hours of consultation) go thin as the population of postgrads increase.
But blackshama stresses the external to the academic profession. You start working for a company without a postgrad degree, the company requires you one, so either the company pays for it, or you do. No problem if you are able to market yourself well to the company so they shell out the money for your PhD. But we know this is mostly an exception than the rule, especially now with the economic downturn. So does the company pay you enough for you to afford one?
So now it seems, the academic and non-academic situations have become parallel. The degree has become ‘essential’ for the non-academic. And of course, the funding has to come from somewhere. With low fees, it is almost a non-issue, as even without company funding, mostly anyone who wants a postgrad degree can afford to pay for one. But with rising fees, enrollees are being weeded out. Have no money? If the company requires you the degree, forget about getting that promotion then until you can afford it.
Then all it has become is, or has always been, a race for a promotion, or winning against the non-PhD in getting hired. Nothing new in that. The cost of a PhD is rising because of the demand for it.
What I would ask is different, which has more to do with competence than cost: how is it making a difference in the non-academic workplace? Is there an actual advantage for the postgraduate degree holder in his/her professional knowledge? If yes, then this more than justifies the cost, as it is not just clinching the reward (promotion) but also furthering your reach (long-term and competitive position).
I can see how it helps in a career, for example, in the actuarial profession. The masters programs in the UP Math has been recently revamped to match what actually goes on in a desk job as an actuary, plus the required competence for actuarial exams. In some cases, I’ve heard, companies pay for these degrees. For this instance, I am hugely in favor of raising the cost, not just for attracting/maintaining professors, but also to get the companies to shell out more cash to pay for their education. Of course this will cause protests to the economically-challenged and unfunded postgrad students, yet the premise here is that you pay more now, and you’ll earn more later.
So the PhD might earn you the higher position, but will it eventually keep you there?
RE: government employees, we all see they are hugely disadvantaged by the rising cost. The ideal is really for those in power to recognise this and take action. We can only hope there is some realism on either the requirements for their promotion to include postgrad degrees, or a waiver on the cost of their tuition.
Penelope
You wrote
“What I would ask is different, which has more to do with competence than cost: how is it making a difference in the non-academic workplace? Is there an actual advantage for the postgraduate degree holder in his/her professional knowledge?”
My answer is
It partly depends on the kind of program one enrolls in. As for the UP actuarial program, practitioners from industry were involved in designing the program. I happen to know one HK based actuary who offered his services gratis et amore to UP’s math department to help design the program. And this bloke is not even a UP alumnus. He rejoices when Ateneo gets impaled by a Green Arrow at the UAAP!
The other programs need more practitioner input in their updating. Here at environmental science, we realize that our program is way behind the times and we are proposing an updated professional program that caters to environmental practitioners especially from the government and NGO sectors. One reason why many don’t get their masters is that the present program requires a full blown masters thesis. Sure research experience is a must but the present program trains scientists expected to continue to the PhD. Most government and NGO workers won’t proceed (or don’t need to proceed) to the PhD and the research component must be scaled down and more practitioner courses instituted.
A professional degree normally does not fulfill the requirements for admission to a PhD (which is a research degree)but may under some circumstances fulfill the requirements for admission to a professional doctorate.
Among environmental practitioners, no environmental assessment company pays for fees but some of the more forward looking ones give time off for study.
One professional school in UP that is debating the fees proposal is statistics. In fact it is Stat that proposed the 2500 peso/unit fee. But I believe the statisticians know their market well. Winning a contract say from one biggie firm can allow the practitioner to charge 1 US dollar per data point! Since statisticians often handle a data matrix greater than 10,000. Now you know why for some teaching is an added perk!
… daaang
… a new direct hire (teacher) from flipland arrived in the area… her resume was impeccable… experience, education, letter of the alpha trailed her name…etc., etc…
… she emceed a primary school graduation…
… ay sus ginoo… on her first line alone, i had to make a potty break… the parents were talking… and it’s not pleasant…
Flipland is in America my dear!
There must have been studies comparing individuals in the private sector and their counterpart in the public sector (government)in terms of their ‘carrying capacity’ – after having acquired masteral or doctoral degrees – as a prerequisite to a position of higher responsibility in the hierarchy.
In government, civilian or military, the section or division head (as blackshama rightly pointed out)are required to take up graduate studies as a precondition for their permanent appointment as section or division head and for that matter for anyone to be appointed as assistant secretary or undersecretary, as the case may be.
But the question seems to be this. Does their new educational attainment, accomplishment if you will, (required compliance to a law or imposition)add to their ‘carrying capacity’ in terms of the reforms and innovations they can introduce in the day-to-day operations of their respective offices or bureaus?
I will state a categorical no. Why? Because precisely, they source their MAs or their PhDs from some low quality colleges or universities in the neighborhood where they hold office. They do not enrol in imperial Manila or QC where the best schools are located.l
In this regard, the problems lie in (1) the establishment of ‘schools of higher learning’ and the postgrad degrees they award and (2) the recognition of such as fit/good enough for the requirements of a ‘promotion’.
The paradox is this.
The people who have ‘strong staying power’ in government are typically those whose educational attainment may be found wanting.
In short, almost always, government does not recruit the cream of the crop but more of those who can really adjust to the ‘whims’ of their agency boss.
Primer:
A friend of mine applied for a job in government.
The interviewer asked for his Civil Service Exam Results (Professional),
He handed it to the interviewer, the interviewer after seeing the 91.62 quipped “you are smarter than the rest of us, you will eat us alive”. He was told he’ll get a phone call – you know what that means.
It was actually easier if he used the traditional ways of getting a job, one phone call made by his dad to the regional director would have done the job – but he didn’t feel right about it.
He says “scr*w it, am going overseas, f*ck the Philippine government”
If I play on hindsight, that person must be you, bong.
And the other person is your dad.
I then remember that father whose daughter was waitlisted in UPLB.
The father is a professor at UP Diliman who can very well have the clout to have his daughter enrol in Diliman but they decided to go through the normal process.
I guess that daughter did not make it to UPLB.
Penelope,
There ought to be studies made whether or not those officials in government who have served in their current positions as section chiefs or department heads who are to be required to graduate MA or MS degrees will still improve in their field of work, hence the requirement.
Their ages must be between 40 to 60.
Shouldn’t we just overhaul the whole recruitment procedure. Let agencies be an ‘equal opportunity employer’. Open it to everyone and soon we will have very young section chiefs and division heads who have fabulous academic credentials as young as in their early 20s.
Now compare how they will perform 10 years hence.
meeh,
You can possibly be wrong in thinking that US or EU graduates are hired than RP graduates. Where did you learn that?
For one, don’t even poison us with the idea that the college degree one gets in RP is merely equivalent to high school diploma in US or EU. Don’t just bluff your way in.
It remains a fact though that compared to US, EU enjoys a higher quality of education. In short, mas mahirap mag graduate sa Europe than in US.
Primer,
I know for a FACT the US, EU, Australia, Japan, etc., degree holders are hired first than Phlippine degree holders if they have exactly the same experience.
If a person goes to the US and applies for jobs, guess who is he competing with and for what types of jobs?
They are competing with US high school diploma holders for ENTRY-LEVEL CLERICAL JOBS or store jobs.
Let them try to apply for a job suited for degree holders and compete with US, UK, Australia, Japan, etc., degree holders and see the rejections flying all over.
That is the reason why Philippine college degree holders go back to school in the US and other advanced countries to be COMPETITIVE.
Otherwise, they will end up with Clerical jobs that are suited for high school diploma holders.
There is nothing wrong with clerical jobs for college degree holders, why would you work as entry-level Clerk or at the store?
That in effect is telling me that in America or in Europe, they do not subscribe to ‘equal opportunity employer’ if they discriminate against Pinoys, discriminate against credentials, discriminate against whom the world labels as – flips, slaves, mail-order-brides, et cetera – is that it?