UP Forum Special Issue on Strategic Initiatives

VOLUME 16 NUMBER 1 SPECIAL ISSUE 2015

FORUMs h a p i n g m i n d s t h a t s h a p e t h e n a t i o n

U N I V E R S I T Y O F T H E P H I L I P P I N E S

UPDATES ON U.P.’S STRATEGIC

INITIATIVES

UP President

*Presented before the UP Board of Regents on 29 January 2015.

2 | On Track to Preeminence: Progress on U.P.’s Strategic Initiatives

3 | Recruiting the Best and the Brightest Students

9 | Internationalizing U.P.

It is a useless life,” Jose Rizal said, “that is not consecrated to a great ideal. It is like a stone wasted on the field without becoming a part of

any edifice.”In 2011, my first year as UP President, I presented

a Strategic Plan, a blueprint for the great ideal and edifice that is “One University, One UP.” I called on constituents—students, faculty, staff and REPS,

On recruiting the best and the brightest students, we make sure that our student body would reflect the socio-economic

profile of our country. The latest data we have are based on the results of the UP College Admission Test (UPCAT) for the class that’s coming in dur-ing academic year 2015-2016. We have a total of 86,000 examinees and we offered admission to

The other important issue is to interna-tionalize UP so that it will be better able to perform its leadership role in

developing a globally competitive Philippines and be at par with international standards set by the best practices of leading universities in the ASEAN and the world. What we have done basically as an initial step in creating

ALFREDO E. PASCUAL

UP FORUM | VOLUME 16 NO. 1 | SPECIAL ISSUE 2015 2

One U.P.officials, and alumni—to consecrate our labors and learning to the return of UP to preeminence in the Philippines and its transformation into a great Asian and global institution.

More than four years later, we are past the halfway mark in our Strategic Plan. It is time to assess our progress in building “One University, One UP,” as well as checking the tasks that remain. It is an opportunity, as well, to celebrate our ac-complishments for, slowly but steadily, we are restoring UP’s greatness in the 21st century.

I presented this Strategic Plan on my first year as UP president. We have kept to the strategic initiatives stated in this plan. We have taken a very global per-spective on the role of UP. I have promoted the idea that we are “One University, One UP” in terms of the academic standards we have set. I have heard the con-cerns about possible dilution of some of the courses being offered off-campus or elsewhere in the system, and we’re conscious of that. And the One UP spirit is catching on. Recently, the Board of Regents approved our first ever tri-campus Professional Masters Program--the Professional Masters in Tropical Marine Eco-systems Management.

In this progress report, these are the strategic initiatives I would cover. First, the thrust is towards recruiting the best and the brightest students, even as we con-tinue to address issues of admission and democratic access and ensure that those who are qualified are able to enroll. Second, there is also the issue of strength-ening and providing the faculty with enough incentives so that we are able to retain them and so that they are able to improve their capability particularly in the area of research. Third, we are also transforming UP into a research-intensive university, intensifying our internationalization efforts, modernizing our peda-gogy, formalizing quality assurance, and strengthening public service and sports development.

On Track to Preeminence: Progress on U.P.’s Strategic InitiativesAlfredo E. Pascual

President, University of the Philippines

UP Qualifiers Based on UPCAT & HS Grade, 2013-2014

2013 2014

UP Applicants 76,662 84,885

% of UP Qualifiers 16.6 15.4

continued from page 1


One U.P.

roughly 13,500. Because there are more applicants now, and since our admis-

sion is based on a quota system, the percentage admission will tend to decline. In 2014, almost 50 percent of those we offered admission to were from private high schools. But private high schools students represent only about 20 percent of the total high school population. So the graduates of private high schools are disproportionately represented.

On the other hand, the graduates of public high schools ac-count for only a fourth of our admissions. But public high schools students account for 80 percent of the student popula-tion. So that’s the kind of disproportionate representation we are experiencing.

Science high schools graduates also account for close to 25 per-cent of those we admit. But the total number of students in the science high schools and specialized high schools comprises only about one percent of the total population.

In terms of regional representation, the National Capital Re-gion (NCR), for obvious reasons because the best high schools are in NCR, has almost close to three times their percentage share in the total population. The most underrepresented is Mindanao. If we further break this down, ARMM is the least represented in UP.

Recruiting the Best and the Brightest

Students

How can we address this issue of democratizing admission to UP? In 2004, the passing rate by income class was more or less even. Seventeen to 19 percent of those who took the UP-CAT from these income classes made it. In 2014, those from the poorest income class were able to achieve only 9.3 percent of the passing rate while those from the highest income class achieved close to 24 percent passing rate. It’s a continuing change over those years until today. So, it would be interesting to see how it is for 2015. We do not have the data yet. But this is really indicative of what is happening in our basic education system. The quality of basic high school education in the public school systems is apparently getting worse based on the data we have. There are also more students taking the UPCAT from higher income classes than the lower income classes.

Fewer people taking the UPCAT are from among the poor and with the lower passing rate. The result is a continuing reduction or decline in the number of poor students or students from poor families in UP. And con-trary to what the students have been shouting all along that abolishing tuition in UP will solve the problem, it will not. The problem is not tuition; it is admission. We have already addressed the tuition issue by reforming the Socialized Tuition System. But we have to address the admission issue, which cannot be solved even if UP is charging no tuition fee.

In order to improve access to UP education, we will offer, starting this year, a free UPCAT Review Online to level the playing field in preparing for the UPCAT. We also need to aggressively promote UPCAT among pub-lic high school students across the country to broaden the base of UPCAT takers from poor families.

We will fully support the Iskolar ng Bayan Law to increase our UPCAT qualifiers from public schools and initiate other affirmative programs to reach out to the underrepresented and marginalized sectors of our society.

And of course, we have to make sure that all those who qualify for ad-mission enroll in our campuses.

Senior public high school students review the UPCAT general information poster on their bulletin board

UP Qualifiers Based on UPCAT & HS Grade, 2013-2014

2013 2014

UP Applicants 76,662 84,885

% of UP Qualifiers 16.6 15.4

Percentage of UP Qualifiers by HS Type, 2013-2014

High School Type % of UP Qualifiers % of HS Enrollment

2013 2014 (2013)**

Private HS 48.1 49.8 19.8

Public HS (Science)* 25.2 24.8 0.9

Public HS (General) 26.6 25.4 79.3

Total 100 100 100

* including state universities and specialized high schools** Source: DepEd Facts and Figures, SY 2012-2013

Regional Breakdown

Region % of UP Qualifiers (2014)

% of Population (2010)*

NCR 30.7 12.8

Luzon (x NCR) 37.0 43.9

Visayas 19.6 19.5

Mindanao 12.7 23.8

Total 100 100

* Based on population data as of 1 May 2010 from the Philippine Statistics Authority

continued on page 5



For masters and doctoral fellowships, in the pe-

riod 2005-2010, the period before my administra-

tion, we granted 10 fellowships per year. During

this administration, we have provided fellowships

to 85 of our faculty members to complete their

masters and doctorate degrees. Money is no lon-

ger a constraint. We can accommodate much

Strengthening the Faculty

To strengthen and incentivize our fac-

ulty, one approach is by increasing the

number of masters and doctorate degree

holders. We are doing that by recruiting PhDs

from abroad and providing them incentives. We

are also financing graduate studies in UP and

abroad and giving research and travel grants.

We have received 29 Balik-PhDs over the past

four years to teach in UP. We will now expand

and ensure that all our campuses and disciplines

will benefit from this program. UP Diliman now

provides these Balik-PhDs a relocation package

of half a million and a start-up research grant of

P2.5 million for a two-year research project.

more. With the help of Senator Pia Cayetano, UP received anoth-

er P100 million for our 2015 budget for faculty development and

that will help us fund more masteral or doctoral fellows who will

either study locally or go abroad.

The numbers are improving. Fifty percent is a good start. With

funding being no longer a constraint, we will be

able to increase that number even more.

We are also providing more travel grants so

that our faculty can present their research papers

abroad. In 2012-2014 there was a big increase.

Source: Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs

U.P. System-Funded Research Dissemination (Travel) Grants, 2012-2014

03

18

13

2 20

33 4

32

10

3 2 132

5

3330

9

30

5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

UP Baguio UP Cebu UP Diliman UP Los Baños UP Manila UP Mindanao UP Open University UP Visayas

2012

2013

2014

Number of PhD and MS/MA Fellowships

Constituent UnitForeign Local

PhD MS/MA Total PhD MS/MA DPA Total Sandwich Total

UP Diliman 22 2 24 4 0 0 4 1

UP Los Baños 4 1 5 2 0 0 2

UP Manila 6 1 7 1 1 0 2

UP Baguio 5 0 5 5 0 0 5

UP Mindanao 5 0 5 0 2 0 2

UP Open University 1 0 1 0 0 0 0

UP Visayas 2 0 2 3 0 11 14

UP Cebu 3 2 5 0 1 0 1

Total 48 6 54 15 4 11 30 1 85



All enrolled students of the University receive financial support from the National Government since the full tuition is much lower than the cost of education in UP. Given that students in UP come from all walks of life, there are those who may not be able to afford paying the full tuition. So we developed the Socialized Tuition System which pro-vides tuition discount at rates that are based on the assessment of the paying capacity of the household to which a student belongs. This assessment looks at the income as well as the socio-economic characteristics of the household.

We have spent a lot of time discussing the Socialized Tuition System and the results have been encouraging. There are more applicants now—from 40 percent the number of socialized tuition applicants rose to 91 percent this school year. More are enjoying 60 to100 percent discounts, from 30 to 55 percent, as of September 2014. And more are enjoying a full discount. In other words, we have been able to screen better in favor of those who are eligible to receive 100 percent discount, 80 percent discount, 60 percent discount—and the processing time is very much faster, from two to three months to two months. In fact, classification had been done even before classes started.

RECRUITING THE BEST... continued from page 3

Note: The figures under each year column do not add up to 100% as they are not based on the total UPCAT takers for the year but on the total UPCAT takers per income category.

Modernizing Pedagogy

In modernizing pedagogy, we are starting to develop pro-grams that will promote blended learning. This is a way of attuning our pedagogy with the way we teach, with the kind

of students we are now getting who are very much tied to mobile devices or doing things online.

We have instituted the Gawad Pangulo for Progressive Teach-ing and Learning: to recognize faculty members who enrich course content and innovate on pedagogy. Another important strategic initiative is to formalize Quality Assurance. This is the first time we are employing a foreign partner to evaluate or assess

our degree programs. We have subjected five of our degree programs for assessment by AUN–Quality Assessment: two from Diliman, three from UP Los Baños. For civil engineering, UP scored 5 out of 7, pass-ing but far from perfect. That means that there is a lot that we have yet to learn. The highest scores seen by international assessors were 5.6 to 5.7, the highest possible score is 7. One panel that came to us included a German professor who evaluated civil engineering. The degree pro-grams that they assessed had taken into consideration the recommen-dation of the QA panels.

U.P. Personnel

Highest amount, widest coverage. These define the merit promotion of and additional compensation for UP faculty and staff approved by the UP Board of Regents (BOR) in a

special meeting we had last November 2014. To date, these mon-etary awards are the highest amount ever given out by the Uni-versity and will benefit the most number of employees. Some P205 million will be used to fund the promotion. I am happy that the promise I made during my investiture in 2011–to reward meritoc-racy and excellent performance–has finally been fulfilled.

This is the University administration and BOR’s way of recogniz-ing the hard work and achievements of the faculty and staff in pro-ducing cutting-edge research, creation of new knowledge products, innovative and meaningful teaching, and effective public service. I am also grateful to the national government for believing that UP, as the one and only national university, is a good investment for the future of the Filipino nation. This support greatly enables the Uni-versity to achieve its purpose to perform its unique and distinctive leadership in higher education and development.

On additional benefits, we will make sure that we address the needs of our administrative staff. We will also address the issue of contractualiza-tion because some of our workers are not regular employees but contrac-tual; some are non-UP contractuals. These people were hired to do spe-cific projects and have not been allowed to go even after the projects were completed. They are still with us and many have worked in UP for 10 years so they want to be regularized. We have already regularized more than 400, and we continue to conduct negotiations. If they are needed on a regular and permanent basis, and when we open the vacancies, those who are on contract will have the opportunity to become regular employ-ees.

I am also thinking of offering an early retirement program and I'm exploring all options to get funding from the government. Some of our senior employees still come to office to make sure that they can retire at 65 and get their retirement benefits. I do not know if we can work this out, we can calculate the cost and see whether we can absorb. If we do that, it will free up some regular positions which we can make available for qualified contractual employees so they can get regular positions. This is a major challenge both for UP contractuals and the non-government workers. This problem is not unique to UP. Other government offices face the same challenge. Let us try to contribute to the solution of this prob-lem.

Pass rate of UPCAT Takers by Income Category*

Household Income Category

Passing rate of UPCAT takers in each income category

2004 2014

No data 11.8 7.6

P100K below 16.7 9.3

P101K – P200K 19.3 14.5

P201K – P300K 19.9 16.9

P301K – P400K 19.3 17.0

P401K – P500K 18.7 18.5

P501K – P1M 18.0 20.4

1M+ 17.7 23.9

Number of PhD and MS/MA Fellowships

Constituent UnitForeign Local

PhD MS/MA Total PhD MS/MA DPA Total Sandwich Total

UP Diliman 22 2 24 4 0 0 4 1

UP Los Baños 4 1 5 2 0 0 2

UP Manila 6 1 7 1 1 0 2

UP Baguio 5 0 5 5 0 0 5

UP Mindanao 5 0 5 0 2 0 2

UP Open University 1 0 1 0 0 0 0

UP Visayas 2 0 2 3 0 11 14

UP Cebu 3 2 5 0 1 0 1

Total 48 6 54 15 4 11 30 1 85


U.P. as a Research-Intensive University

One very important strategic initiative is to transform UP into a research-intensive university. My predecessors have put in place the building blocks to make UP a research-intensive university through the construc-

tion of the National Science Complex. Under my administration, we made sure that this worthy initiative is completed by mobilizing the necessary resources for research and additional facilities.

I want to highlight two examples of major research facilities that we have set up. At the start of my term in 2011, I launched the Philippine Genome Center with no sure source yet for the building. Eventually, we got the money from the Disburse-ment Acceleration Program (DAP).

For Phase I, we have started construction and will be completed within year. For our capital outlay (CO) budget for 2015, we are getting again the funding for the second phase. We will have a much bigger facility. We already have more than P400 million in research funding for our Philippine Genome Center (PGC). We have state-of-the-art equipment including a supercomputer which is not housed here but accessible to the Philippine Genome Center. It’s an Information and Com-munications Technology Office (ICTO) of the Department of Science and Technol-ogy (DOST). This 1-Billion Peso Project is an important research facility which should house 10 institutes. Since this is a very large project, we encountered prob-lems getting acceptable bidders. With two failed biddings and two failed negotia-tions, we had no choice but to outsource so that we do not lose the money.

We outsourced the construction to the DBM Procurement Service. With that outsourcing, there is no risk in losing the money anymore. But there would be some delay in the completion of the project. This is a very large facility with 34,000 square meters or 3.4 hectares of land space and sport facilities. DOST is an impor-tant UP partner and we have been getting a lot of support from it in funding our research projects.

In addition to DOST, UP also gets funding from the Department of Agriculture (DA), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and the Department of Health (DOH).

We have not neglected culture and the humanities. In 2014, we succeeded in get-ting funding from government for a proposal that we presented to Malacañang—the Cultural Infrastructure Development Program (CIDP). Malacañang gave us about P400 million to rehabilitate and upgrade our facilities for the performing arts and other cultural facilities to support creative work and research in culture and the arts. By emphasizing this we are able to help develop our sense of national identity and unity as Filipinos. This will match the significant investments UP is making in science and technology. The Siningsaysay: History as Art Project is one way of supporting and promoting culture and the arts in the University. It is a col-lection of 30 murals depicting Philippine history. Twenty-eight UP alumni-artists form part of the project.

As we do research we also need to enhance intellectual property (IP) protec-tion. We have reorganized this; we have hired an engineer to help the Technol-ogy Transfer and Business Development Office (TTBDO).

Another research program we introduced is the Emerging Inter-Disciplinary Research Program (EIDR) being funded by the UP System. EIDR was imple-mented in 2012 to provide UP faculty and researchers with grants that will allow them to carry out interdisciplinary research programs for 2 to 4 years. This pro-gram encourages inter-unit and inter-constituent university (CU) collaborations, as well as collaborations with foreign institutions, state universities and colleges, higher education institutions and partnerships with the private industry.

We have gone through five cycles already with a total commitment of close to P250 million. The ongoing 31 EIDR programs/projects cover a broad range of topics that are of public and national interest. These include: the Development of versatile instrument system for science education and research (VISSER); Towards good water governance for development; Social-ecological resilience on different spatial and temporal scales; Computer-aided discovery of compounds for the treatment of tuberculosis in the Philippines; Use of fast growing planta-tion tree species as fuel pellets in the Philippines, among others.

The number of people applying for the research program is increasing. The requirement is that the proposal has to have a team from different disciplines to tackle a particular challenge. We need to aggressively disseminate the availabil-


Number of programs and amount of funds allocated in each cycle of the Emerging Interdisciplinary Research Grant

2011-2013

CycleNo. of

ProgramsMain Proponent

Funds Allotted(in million PhP)

1 5

UPD

63.9UPLBUPM

UPMin

2 7UPD

73.4UPLBUPM

3 5UPD

34.2UPBUPLB

4 5 UPD 37.7

5 9UPB

40.4UPDUPLB

Total 31 249.6


ity of research grants across all campuses so that more faculty and researchers will apply for funding.

We also enhanced the Creative Work and Research grants. Even without enhancement we already saw an increase in the number of awardees. Before my term as president, there were only 11 awardees; in 2011 this was more than double—27—and in 2012, we saw a further increase. There is a decline in the number of awardees, that is why we needed to enhance it; we increased the amount available for every grantee.

There is also funding for UP Baguio, UP Los Baños, UP Manila, and UP Visayas. There was a presentable increase from 2009-2013, but continuing it is very much dependent on the amount of funds available.

There are also external sources of funding for research work. In 2011-2012, UP Los Baños received a growing amount of funding. UP Diliman, on the other hand, received a total of P45 billion, a significant increase, from DOST in 2011-2014.

In a period of six years, we received P1.25 billion in funding. Within a four-year period it’s now P4.2 billion. It’s almost triple increase so far. That is really providing the fuel for our effort to be a research-intensive University.

And finally, we are going to implement the Philippine-Cal-ifornia Advanced Research Institute (PCARI) projects. We are getting seven to eight projects. It’s almost 80 to 90 percent of the funding. Ateneo de Manila University will get one project. The projects are classified into two areas: Health and Informa-tion and Communication Infrastructure. If you count all the research funding we have received so far, P4.2B plus P400M-P4.6B, plus DOST plus PCARI, there is really a significant increase.

The good news is that the laboratories are now becoming available to meet the needs at the Science Complex, the En-gineering Complex, the Philippine Genome Center and the National Institutes of Health building.

UP’s National Institutes of HealthCreated in 1996 as an institutional umbrella for a network of various research and exten-sion units in health and socio-biomedical concerns.After 17 years, NIH will have a modern building in UP Manila with approved budget of P1B for 12 storeys with a total of 34,400 sqm floor area.Status: Outsourced to DBM Procurement Service

UP’s Philippine Genome CenterLaunched in November 2011, the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) of UP is a multidisci-plinary institution that combines basic and applied research for the development of health diagnostics, therapeutics, DNA forensics and preventive products, and improved crop, aquaculture, and animal varieties. The Center was established to facilitate the translation of knowledge in genomics into applications beneficial to society.

The PGC currently has five research programs on health; agriculture, livestock & fisher-ies; biodiversity; forensics & ethnicity; and ethics, legal and social issues. It has three core facilities: DNA sequencing, bioinformatics, and biobanking. PGC will soon offer educa-tional workshops, trainings, and seminars in genomics and biotechnology. Collaborations with the academe, government and private institutions with similar thrusts in genomics-based applications such as health and medicine, agriculture, biodiversity and forensics are welcome.

The PGC officially opened its Core Facility for Bioinformatics (CFB) last 14 April 2014. The CFB aims to provide local scientists and researchers with quality services for genome-scale data generation and analysis. The CFB showcases high-performance computing resources, hardware and software required in the efficient analysis, management/curation, and archiving of massive amounts of data derived from next generation sequencing. The CFB also boasts of custom-made/client-focused services such as the provision of soft-ware, specialized databases or technical support for varied bioinformatics analyses, and the use of and access to high-performance computing resources. The CFB complements the next generation sequencing services offered by PGC’s DNA Sequencing Core Facility (DSCF).

Ongoing construction of the UP Philippine Genome Center building

which will house its administrative services office and core facilities as of 28 January 2015

Phase 1: Fund source - 2013 CO Budget, P150MStatus: Ongoing; target completion is 2nd quarter of 2015

Phase 2: Fund source - 2015 CO Budget, P150MStatus: Most likely to be covered by a contiguous contract;

preparations in the works

HealthIHITM 63: High Throughput Screening of Philippine Terrestrial and Marine Organisms for Antimalarial Properties and Identification of Novel Drug Targets P84.8MIHITM 109: Phil. UC-Collaboratory for Device Innovation (Training Award) P18.0MIHITM 131: Accessible Detection of Dengue using BioMems and MIP Materials P68.9M A Proposal for the Expansion of the Shared Genomics Core Facility in the Philippines P366.3M

Information & Communication InfrastructureIIID 13: Resilient Sensory Swarms for Smart Energy and Environ-mental Monitoring (RESE2NSE) P116.5MIIID 31: The Village Base Station P89.5MIIID 54: Resilient Cyber Physical Societal Scale Systems P168.2MIIID 58: Cost-Effective Manufacturing Using Printing Fabrication Technologies For Energy Generation, Conditioning, and Monitoring Devices P68.4M

CHED-Funded PCARI Projects, 2015

Number of programs and amount of funds allocated in each cycle of the Emerging Interdisciplinary Research Grant

2011-2013

CycleNo. of

ProgramsMain Proponent

Funds Allotted(in million PhP)

1 5

UPD

63.9UPLBUPM

UPMin

2 7UPD

73.4UPLBUPM

3 5UPD

34.2UPBUPLB

4 5 UPD 37.7

5 9UPB

40.4UPDUPLB

Total 31 249.6


How are research works translating into publications, which is very, very important for our faculty? From 2007 to-2010, there was a 48 percent increase in the number of publications ac-

counted for by the Scopus. Scopus is the organization under Elsevier Publisher, which tracks 22,000 journals. They track all types of journals from different disci-plines, from science and technology to arts and humanities. They’re now the most extensive and are now getting to be the leader in tracking jour-nal publications and books as well. The break-down by campus is: UP Diliman 46 percent, by

far the biggest number; UP Manila, 25 percent; and UP Los Baños, 24 percent of annual publications. UP Diliman increased at a rate of 11.6 percent per year; UP Los Baños, eight percent; UP Manila yielded a 76 percent increase in 2011 because a journal that it is publishing became Scopus-listed. Let me highlight the fact that in UP Diliman, the distri-bution of publications across different disciplines is more or less even, 150-200 publications per major discipline in the past 10 years. In UP Los Baños, we have the bulk of the publications in agriculture and biologi-cal sciences, more than half of the publications. It simply tells us that, in fact, UPLB is focusing on its niche area. The same goes for UP Manila, with medicine as its niche area.

For their publications, our faculty members are given International Publication Awards. This award also includes publications that are internationally recognized—our own internationally recognized jour-nals. There is also a good 15 percent increase from the period before my administration and the last four years of my administration. There are more in the Scopus. We found out that not all faculty members apply for the international publication award. We are trying to understand why.

Another form of recognition is the UP Scientific Productivity System for our scientists. This was introduced two administrations ago but during our administration, there has been a significant increase in the awards we’re giving. Now, we’re not constrained as far as funding is concerned. A counterbalance to the Scientific Productivity Awards is the Arts Productivity System and we have given some awards already. It’s growing here, declining there. It’s not a consistent trend but the numbers are encouraging.

Translating Research into Publications

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

UPMin

UPV

UPM

UPLB

UPD

UPB

UP Scopus Publications, 2005-2014

The sad reality is that UP's research output lags behind those of the lead-ing universities in our neighboring countries. The topnotcher of course is the National University of Singapore (NUS). The NUS produces over 8,000 publications per year. The NUS and the Nanyang Technological University are both from Singapore and look at their publication rate. The number of their faculty members is more or less like ours but they are introducing two publi-cations a year.

UP publications are at the 600 level despite our over 3,700 faculty. Our publication rate is very, very low. The only one we are beating now among the top 10 universities in Asia is Indonesia. We are still ahead of Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City, but Vietnam’s is on an upward trend. If we don’t do something drastic there will be a cross over somewhere here in the future. Vietnam is sending 2,000 of their students to do PhDs abroad. That is their annual rate of doctoral studies abroad compared to our 30.

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

National University of Singapore

Nanyang Technological University

University of Malaya

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Universiti Putra Malaysia

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Mahidol University

Chulalongkorn University

University of the Philippines

University of Indonesia

Publications: Comparison of Top ASEAN Universities

Note: Partial data was used for 2014Source: http://www.scopus.com

Note: Partial data was used for 2014Source: Elsevier, Research Solutions Sales


Internationalizing U.P.

enabling conditions is to synchronize our academic calendar with that of the universities in our neighboring countries. We have also improved

our International Linkages Office (ILO) and have ap-pointed one of our young PhDs deputy director of this office, which will lead the thrust in internationalizing the university.

But the most important thing is how we implement many of these linkages with other universities. We are very active in international networks. The ASEAN University Network (AUN) is working closely with ASEAN organizations, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU). UP is the only university in the Philippines that is part of

the AUN. The members are all leading universities around the Pacific. We are part of the ASEAN European Academic University Network, South and Southeast Asia and Taiwan Universities (SATU); and the Korean Studies Association of Southeast Asia (KoSASA). I am a member of the steering committee for APRU and SATU.

We have increased the number of visiting professors and we want to see more. We are again encouraging the other CUs to do the same. UP Baguio has started bringing in visiting professors from abroad.

Right now, only one percent of our student population is from abroad. The issue for undergraduate programs is that for every foreign student we take in, we necessarily have to bump off one Filipino student because

we have a fixed quota per course. We are not yet doing anything to invite undergraduate students to enroll in programs in UP. What we can do or we are trying to do is increase the number of foreign students in our post-graduate programs where there is more capacity and less competition from our local students. If we have to increase the number of our foreign students it will be in the post graduate programs. We are also trying to provide support for our internationalization program. We have improved some of the facilities at the International Center in UP Dili-man from our own funds and in UP Los Baños with fund-ing from the government. We are building an international center as well.

Number of Active Foreign Higher Education Institutions Partners

per Year, 2011-2013

Constituent Unit

2011 2012201

3

System 55 55 49

Baguio 2 2 6

Cebu 2

Diliman 101 108 139

Los Baños 49 48 45

Manila 21 21 14

Mindanao 9 8 8

Open University 8 8 14

Visayas 21 21 9

Total 266 271 286


Number of Active Foreign Higher Education Institutions Partners

per Year, 2011-2013

Constituent Unit

2011 2012 2013

System 55 55 49

Baguio 2 2 6

Cebu 2

Diliman 101 108 139

Los Baños 49 48 45

Manila 21 21 14

Mindanao 9 8 8

Open University 8 8 14

Visayas 21 21 9

Total 266 271 286

Source: Office of International Linkages, January 2015


U.P. in Public Service

We are extending the reach of UP particularly in the fast developing urban centers like UP Cebu. We broke ground in 2012 and inaugurated the UP Cebu Profession-

al Schools in Cebu, South Road Properties. That was donated to us by the city government which funded part of the cost of the building, the

Professional Schoolsfirst building, and the other part was from the PDAF of Senator Sergio Osmeña. The library is now under construction.

In Bonifacio Global City, the construction of the Bonifacio City building of UP is ongoing. The target completion is July this year. We have the building that was donated to us by BCDA. We also have a donation from SM Investment Corporation. We have the approval of P50 million more in the 2015 budget for the furnishings of the build-ing but we’re still raising money from our alumni. The future Clark Green City has an area of 70 hectares but we have not signed a formal agreement yet. I have also met with representatives of the Massachu-setts Institute of Technology because they’re looking at the possibil-ity of setting up an Innovation Hub in the Philippines like the one in Singapore. We presented to them what we are doing in the area of research and development. We have a very strong proponent for this in the person of one of our regents, Senator Pia Cayetano. We also got a few millions to start the track oval, again with the help of Senator Cayetano.

Ongoing construction of UP in Bonifacio Global City (Basement Level)28 January 2015

Serving the country is a trademark UP value which has always been instilled in its students, faculty, staff, and administration. UP expertise has consistently been tapped in the development

of policies and achievement of goals that benefit society. With the Charter of 2008 formally declaring UP as the national university of the country, UP’s public character has been recognized with the mandate to lead in public service.

Information dissemination plays a key role in public service. Digi-tal technology has been an important tool in this initiative. Under my administration, the initiative is called “Pabatid UP-Pabatid Bayan,” a comprehensive media and communication program that provides an outward-looking, inclusive information system that reaches out to the nation and the world.

The institutional visibility and the reach of UP was expanded with the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and Issuu.

As the so-called face of UP to the world, the UP System website was redesigned using international universities as benchmarks in design, functionality and content. It was launched in August 2011 and as of 8 June 2015, it has had 2.999 million visits.

UP has also ensured that its internal publics are served. One such group highly valued by the university is its alumni. In 2011, the UP

alumni website as the “face of UP to the Alumni ng Bayan”—like the UP System website—was also redesigned using international universities as benchmarks in design, functionality and content. In addition, the digitiza-tion of the UP alumni database has been ongoing.

existing CU Information Offices; and generate and provide timely, accu-rate and quality information to internal and external publics through all available communication media, through a unified System-wide infor-mation system.

We conducted seminar-workshops for the designated information of-ficers of the units of all campuses—the first concrete step toward imple-menting the system. The information officers have since organized themselves in a Facebook group to facilitate the completion of a unified, working and effective information system throughout the UP System.

To anchor the public service initiatives of the university, centralize operations, and coordinate public service endeavors of UP units, the UP Padayon Public Service Office was created by the Board of Regents on 29 March 2012. It is responsible for mobilizing UP resources to respond promptly and efficiently to the demands of public service. It is also tasked to develop networks of support from the different publics of UP.

With UP Padayon in place, the University partnered with the Com-mission on Elections and ABS-CBN to help ensure clean and intelligent exercise of the people's right of suffrage in May 2013. We had the UP sa Halalan 2013 website and social media accounts that shared relevant data—from candidate background and infographics on political fami-lies to analyses and think pieces from UP experts. UP election experts dominated the airwaves with their incisive commentaries and analyses throughout the campaign period and on election day.

Let me also emphasize that we are going international and regional in our approach to public service because the other universities in our re-gion are now also getting conscious of the need to engage with the com-munity. Public service has been part of UP culture for many years, so we have a lot to share with them. We are getting active in the so-called Asia-Talloires Network of Industry and Community Engaged Universi-ties (ATNEU), AUN’s University Social Responsibility and Sustainabil-ity (USR&S) Thematic Network, and AsiaEngage.

To harmonize the flow of information in the UP Sys-tem, I created a unified and coordinated UP informa-tion/communication system.

This system aims to standardize the functions of all


We are committed to continue our campaign for increases in the UP budget. When I as-

sumed the presidency in 2011 the UP budget had already been approved and the pro-posed budget for 2012 had already been pre-pared. In 2013, we made a presentation to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and we were able to get an increase of over 60 percent, which was maintained in 2014. In 2015 we had an increase of more than 40 percent for the completion of critical infrastructure and for the modernization of PGH.

The eUP is difficult to implement, not because it’s UP but because that is the nature of implementing a comprehensive and integrated informa-tion system. I have yet to see a company that has implemented an ERP within the original time frame.

The Student Academic Information Services (SAIS) is now LIVE in UP Manila and UP Cebu. We also have the Financial Management Informa-tion System (FMIS) and Supplies, Procurement and Campus Manage-ment Information System (SPCMIS) in UP System, UP Manila, UP PGH and UP Open University; and Human Resource Information System in all units.

There are a lot of challenges. Technical challenges—choosing a techni-cal partner for this project was difficult. It was problematic not so much with the prospective partner’s lack of intention to do it but because of the nature of the IT industry. Members of the team were given more lucrative offers to work elsewhere. The team assigned by the Techlogix to UP, the original team, is no longer complete; they lost some of their experts to another competing outfit. The same thing is happening in the BPO industry. Turnover is very fast, less than a year, and because we are losing experts, quality of work suffers, progress is slow.

Slow internet access is still an issue. We are now installing new fiber optic cables. We are reiterating the need for training, particularly among the more elderly in our staff. We have to change the mindset and accept the fact that we have to input data in the Human Resource System because that would be the basis for the database. Next time, we will time the release of bonus or whatever incentive benefits UP will distribute to their filling up the data in their respective accounts.

As for Green UP, the design of our buildings now includes green fea-tures. An example is the UP Integrated School.

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

PS MOOE CO TOTAL

Increases in the U.P. BudgetUP Budget from GAA (in million PhP), 2010-2015

Note: 2010 to 2012 amounts are actual budget releases while the 2013 to 2015 are budgets as approved.

UP System Information Office Mezzanine Floor, Quezon Hall, UP Diliman, Quezon City Telefax 926-1572, trunkline 981-8500 loc. 2552, 2549, e-mail: [email protected]

The UP FORUM

J. Prospero E. De Vera IIIEditor-in-Chief

Frances Fatima M. CabanaEditor

Flora B. Cabangis Managing Editor

Luis V. TeodoroCopy Editor

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Jonathan M. MadridPhotographers

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Alice B. Abear Tomas M. Maglaya Victor D. Imbuido

Administrative Staff

Prof. Luis V. TeodoroUP College of Mass

Communication

Dr. Dante M. VelascoUP College of Mass

Communication

Sec. Gen. Marilyn B. Barua-Yap

House of Representatives

BOARD OF ADVISERS

Dr. Clarita R. CarlosUP College of Social Sci-

ences and Philosophy

Dr. Edna A. CoUP National College of Public Administration

and Governance

Dr. Emil Q. JavierUP President (1993-1999)

Dr. Orlando S. MercadoUP National College of Public Administration

and Governance

Dr. Jaime Galvez-TanUP College of Medicine

Sec. Oscar G. YabesSenate of the Philippines

eUP & GreenUP

In the area of operational excellence our two main thrusts are administrative efficiency, for which we used eUP as the main tool, and Green UP.

We committed at the start of my term to campaign for an increase in the government-allocated budget, and we have achieved that. We have generated revenues from our idle lands and have worked on donations, both cash and in kind, from our alumni and friends. We have achieved a few things here including the donation of the Boni-facio Global City campus, the Theater that would soon rise here plus a number of donations for chairs and scholarships.

The new UP Integrated School

UP Budget from GAA 2010-2015

(amounts in million PhP)

Year Budget

2010 4,609

2011 5,376

2012 6,847

2013 9,529

2014 9,373

2015 13,143

Over the past four years, we have been able to increase the bud-get of the University by more than 100 percent. The increased funding for UP shows that the national government now recogniz-es that every peso given to the University is not an expense but an investment in the future of our country.

UP FORUM | VOLUME 16 NO. 1 | SPECIAL ISSUE 2015 12THE UP FORUMUniversity of the PhilippinesDiliman, Quezon City, Philippines, 1101

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Examples ofInfrastructure Projects UP is the national university

as declared in the 2008 UP Charter. It is now a system

of seven constituent universities (CUs) and a constituent college spread over 17 campus locations all over the country. It will soon have 18 after we put up the Panabo Campus and 19 if we proceed with the Clark Green City Campus.

By international standards we are now a large comprehensive university, with 190 undergraduate degree pro-grams and 355 postgraduate degree programs.

We have a total of 57,000 students, 25 percent of whom are post graduate stu-dents. Forty percent of the total number of students are in UP Diliman.

We have 3,700 fulltime faculty mem-bers and around 1,000 part-time faculty and support staff consisting of 8,000 regular staff excluding the UP contrac-tuals, the job order employees, and the agency employees.

If we take all these people into ac-count and count how many support staff we have, we have a ratio of about 2:1, or two support staff for every faculty member, because 3,000 of the regular administrative staff are at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH).

UP Diliman is the most comprehen-sive among the CUs, although it doesn’t have all the colleges for all the disci-plines. We know that UP Los Baños has Agriculture and Forestry; UP Manila, Health and Medicine, these are the niches of the two big campuses.

In UP Visayas, we have Fisheries and Ocean Sciences; UP Open Univer-sity (UPOU), Distance Learning; UP Mindanao, food and agribusiness and indigenous culture; and UP Baguio, in-digenous culture in the Cordilleras. We are trying to develop UP Cebu into an IT and Creative and Industrial Design College.

Palma Hall Pavillions Renovation (80% completed) Quezon Hall Renovation (68% completed) Renovation and expansion of UP Baguio buildings (Completed)

New UP School of Statistics building (96% completed) UP Mindanao University Library (Completed)

U.P. Town Center Phase 1-B (Ongoing) Construction and retrofitting of UP Cebu Lahug Library (Completed)

Renovation of UP Diliman Residence Halls Phase II (94% Completed) UPDEPP Academic Building (Completed)

Construction of UPLB Gymnasium (Completion of Phase V, Wing B) (73.8% Completed)

Documents

UP Forum Special Issue on Strategic Initiatives