World Bank dispenses advice on how to build world-class universities

The World Bank, in a new report on higher education, cautioned developing countries, the Philippines included, to “resist the temptation to establish world-class universities to cash in on research earnings and court global prestige before educating their own citizens to high tertiary standards." Experiences of 11 state-run and private research universities were reviewed and analyzed in the new report, The Road to Academic Excellence: The Making of World-Class Research Universities, released earlier this week. The report was released on the same day that the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2011 – 2012 were also made public. In those rankings, none of the Philippines’ universities made it to the Top 400, although 60 Asian universities did. Other rankings came out over the past months. “Governments and institutions worldwide have responded to the university rankings with both words and concrete actions," said Dr. Jamil Salmi, the World Bank’s higher education coordinator and co-author of the new report. “At the national level, government reactions have ranged from plans to create alternative rankings to proactive policies in support of qualitative transformations in the university sector," Salmi added. Talent, budget, vision In its statement, the World Bank said world-class research universities have three common attributes, "without which 21st Century universities cannot survive, let alone, excel: a high concentration of talented academics and students, significant budgets, and strategic vision and leadership." Cautioning on getting development priorities in proper order, the report said, “not every country needs comprehensive world-class universities, at least not while more fundamental tertiary education needs are not being met. Many countries…would be better off initially focusing on developing the best national universities possible." It noted that some countries and institutions had to mobilize “abundant money" and muster “international prestige" as in the case of the $750 million school of medicine of Cornell University in Qatar established in 2002. “Abundant funding is indispensable not only for setting up first-rate facilities and an appropriate physical infrastructure but also for attracting and retaining high-level academics," Salmi said. He added that, “the comparative data unequivocally show that the top performers in the rankings among the institutions included in this book have the highest level of annual per student funding, ranging from close to US$40,000 in the case of the National University of Singapore to US$70,000 for Pohang University of Science and Technology." “Most of the universities showcased in this book have successfully diversified their funding sources by managing to mobilize significant additional resources beyond the direct subsidies they receive from government," Salmi noted. The Philippine context The World Bank’s higher education coordinator said, “a key success factor in building a top research university is the ability to attract, recruit, and retain leading academics. Notably, what truly distinguishes the East Asian universities from the rest of the world is the marked emphasis on internationalization." On this score, the Philippines has worries, according to University of the Philippines Diliman Chancellor Caesar Saloma, who wrote recently that “less than 15 percent of faculty members in our higher education system have pertinent PhD degrees that qualify them to run gradate programs." “An equally worrisome indicator is that a majority of PhD faculty in the basic and applied sciences and mathematics, is retiring in the next 15 years and not enough replacements are in sight," the chancellor added. Saloma, a physicist, called on the national government “to increase (not to decrease) its maintenance, operating and overhead expenses (MOOE) budget allocation for UP in 2012 by at least P200 million, to enable UP Diliman to maintain and operate correctly the National Science Complex and the Engineering Research and Development for Technology (ERDT) program. Senator Edgardo J. Angara has prodded the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to work with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) to create a funding source for capital outlays as well as financial aid to students. "We need to look for a long-term, and not just band-aid, solutions to the perennial problem we face every year during budget deliberations: lack of funds for capital outlay, and unrest among students because of yearly tuition increase," said Angara during the hearing on budgets of the state universities and colleges (SUCs) on Thursday. Angara urged CHED Chairperson Dr. Patricia Licuanan “to create a central government institution that will provide affordable and accessible financial assistance to both students and teachers, including capital outlay for the construction of laboratories and buildings for both private and public schools." UP's profile In 2010, UP had total funds of P8.43 billion, 82 percent of which was the subsidy it got from the national government. To compare, the National Taiwan University, which ranked 154th in the Times Top 400, had total 2010 funds equivalent to P24.69 billion, but only 27 percent of that was government subsidy because the rest was “self-raised." Current total UP enrolment is 51,473 while NTU’s 2010 student population was 33,533. NTU has 2,858 faculty members, all with PhDs, and they comprise 76 percent of the total faculty. Former UP president Dr. Emerlinda Roman said in her report during the turnover to the current president, Alfredo Pascual, that 70 percent of UP’s faculty have graduate degrees. According to the financial statements of UP for the years 2008 and 2009 available on the website of the Commission on Audit, the state university earned, in both years, over P1 billion in income on top of the subsidy it got from the national government budget. “Total Other Income" of UP in 2009 was P1.447 billion while in 2008 it was P1.475 billion. Significant chunks of that, 25 percent in 2008 and 30 percent in 2009, were hospital fees of the Philippine General Hospital. Tuition fees UP collected were P357.785 million in 2008 and P351.584 million IN 2009. UP earned interest income of P281.862 million in 2008 and P307.204 million in 2009 while income from grants and donations were P228.165 million in 2008 and P63.845 million in 2009.