ERRATUM: Top universities in the Philippines based on board exam performance

Erratum (October 23, 2012):

The writer of this post would like to apologize for unintentionally misleading the readers of the said post, which may be read below. On Monday, October 22, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) denounced such list and revealed that the list of top schools in the Philippines based on board exam performance was fake.

The PRC, which regulates and supervises the practice of professionals who constitute the highly skilled manpower of the country, said it has not released such a list, which was supposedly based on average ratings of board examination takers of all courses in all universities and colleges in the Philippines.

PRC's OIC for Public Information and Media Relations Department Norman de Guzman told ABS-CBN News they just release information on their website and that they have no Facebook or Twitter account.

"At ang list ng top performing schools na nire-release namin ay based on the regulated professions, for example 'yung top schools for nursing, hindi 'yung general list for all professions," de Guzman explained.

According to the list, three University of the Philippines campuses (Diliman, Los Baños, Manila, in that order) topped, and followed by Siliman University and Ateneo de Davao University.

"The list is fake. Hindi naman every year ang ginagawang study ng Educational Statistics task force," he said.

De Guzman also explained PRC's Educational Statistics Division, led by Alfonso Viloria, is "continuous" in conducting studies as opposed to what the list claimed as "every decade."

Please be guided accordingly.

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The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) allegedly produced a list of the top 20 schools or  universities in the Philippines based on the results of a joint study conducted every 10 years by the two government agencies. 

According to some unofficial reports, CHED and PRC allegedly ranked the universities/schools based on the average passing rate in the board examinations on ALL examination of all universities and colleges in the the Philippines. 

Three system units of UP made it to the top spots in the list. Included in the top 5 schools by board exam performance are Siliman University and Ateneo de Davao University.

The top 20 schools in the Philippines based on board/licensure exam performance are the following:

1. University of the Philippines, Diliman
2. University of the Philippines, Los Banos
3. University of the Philippines, Manila
4. Siliman University, Dumaguete
5. Ateneo de Davao University
6. Ateneo de Manila University
7. University of Santo Tomas
8. Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology
9. Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
10. Saint Louis University, Baguio
11. University of San Carlos, Cebu City
12. Xavier University, Cagayan de Oro
13. Mindanao State University, Marawi Campus
14. Urios College, Butuan City
15. Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Manila
16. De La Salle University, Manila
17. Mapua Institute of Technology
18. Adamson University
19. Central Mindanao University, Bukidnon
20. University of Southern Philippines, Davao

University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University Ranks, Spiral Down from 2009 Upbeat Performance- QS World University Rankings 2010

The top three universities in the Philippines failed to raise its rankings in the QS World University Rankings 2010.

Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) still beats University of the Philippines with an overall score of 36.4 out of 100 as compared to the latter's score of 35.9. However, it can be recalled that Ateneo de Manila University (UP) which landed on the 234th spot last year rapidly slid passed 73 universities to a shocking 307th . Meanwhile, UP embraced the 314th spot from last year's 262.

De La Salle University (DLSU)) also made it into the list, at the far bottom 451-500 slots.

The results are manifestations of a downward trend in the quality of tertiary education in the Philippines. It is, therefore, a challenge to the Aquino administration to support and increase the funding of state universities, and also, to work hand in hand with private universities, to raise the bar and encourage its students and constituents to aim high without the expense of higher pay in tuition fees.

Now that the SUCs (State Universities and Colleges) funds have been short of the funding it really needs, by cutting its budget to a great extent, it may be assumed that these SUCs will try to look for other profit-earning opportunities, thus leading to increase in tuition fees and other miscellaneous fees.

Spotlight Philippines is calling on the government to rethink the budget allocations it planned, and study the appeal of SUCs to hand them the suitable amount which would deem beneficial to all students, researchers, professors and the like. Remember, education is the key to an individual's success, and indirectly, to a nation's future.

Opinions stated above are subject to editing. Feel free to comment on it.