During an evaluation session of the research program of the
Commission on Higher Education (CHED) last month (December 2007), one of the
zonal research directors made a remarkable statement that raised a howl from the
evaluation panel. The panel consisting of distinguished professors vigorously
objected to his statement that theses in our graduate schools are not the
results of research.
The quality of theses in graduate schools is of course just a
"tip of the iceberg," and many issues relating to graduate education need
looking into.
At first thought, I tended to agree with the distinguished
members of the panel. Knowing them, I could understand why they objected: They
took their graduate degrees from well known universities in the United States,
where research for doctorate degrees is usually rigorous. On the other hand, my
director-colleague was talking about the present status of thesis research in
the Philippines.
But on deeper thinking based on our five-year experience and
survey of higher education in the country, I could see a big grain of truth in
my colleagues’ statement that theses at the master’s and doctorate levels in
many of our higher educational institutions can hardly qualify as the results of
good research. And I am indebted to my director-colleague for his blunt language
that provoked the present column. Incidentally, I invite contrary opinions to my
colleague’s statement especially from administrators of graduate schools and
academic vice-presidents.
There is an urgent need for the Commission on Higher
Education and organizations like the Philippine Association of Graduate
Education (PAGE) to reform the Graduate School in the Philippines in order to
improve the quality of our graduate students. There is in fact a proposal draft
to do this.
At this point, I would like to mention a related but
different academic issue: the proliferation of designations of doctorate degrees
in the Philippines; there are several queer-sounding earned doctorate degrees
given by higher education institutions in the Philippines, enough to confuse our
academic colleagues in other countries!
Unless we reform our graduate schools, we cannot expect the
proper recognition of many Philippine doctorate degrees. For example, Thailand’s
Commission on Higher Education fully recognizes only doctorates from the
University of the Philippines, Los Baños!
An important lesson learned from the governance structure of
top universities in the world is that universities should be relatively isolated
from politics. Many well- informed educators have identified petty politics as a
cause of deterioration of academic standards. On the contrary, in countries
where professional and competent academic authorities determine academic
policies, world- class universities have developed.
For the decade of 2008, it is recommended that government look into the
Graduate School as a priority area for study for the purpose of a comprehensive
policy reform.
