Monday, December 19, 2005
Nursing schools in Cebu reap windfall from enrolment rise
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
WITH the continuing demand for nurses abroad, enrolment in Cebu City’s nursing schools continued to increase this school year, so that some schools now have over 1,000 students, Commission on Higher Education (Ched) 7 records show.
The rising trend started two years ago when overseas employment for nurses picked up after years of slowdown, said Elmer de Ocampo, data in-charge of Ched 7’s planning division.
From last year’s 22,169 students, this year’s enrolment rose to 25,475 in all the city’s 15 nursing schools.
Records show that Southwestern University (SWU) has the biggest student population at 4,894.
However, University of Cebu (UC)-Banilad got the highest increase of enrollees from last year. An additional 1,070 students are taking up nursing at the university. It has a total of 4,880 students, the second highest number among the 15 schools.
Of all the schools, 13 reported an increase in enrolment, except for the University of Southern Philippines (USP) and Cebu Normal University (CNU).
De Ocampo said the decreases could be due to the students’ preference to enroll in schools with lower tuition or those nearer to where they reside.
USP’s enrolment figures went down by 1,061 this year, with only 1,477 students enrolled.
CNU’s enrollment went down by 66 from last year’s total of 811 students.
Aside from UC-Banilad and SWU, which saw increases by more than 1,000 students, the University of the Visayas and Cebu Doctors’ University enrolled additional 946 and 730 students, respectively.
Before the school year started, Ched 7 Director Enrique Grecia said that by next year, technical committees from Ched will inspect nursing schools nationwide and will set a limit on the number of students they can accept.
The policy, he explained, is aimed at ensuring that every nursing student can use the school’s equipment and facilities for a period specified under nursing laws.
The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, in a report last March, said 22,000 nursing students were scheduled to graduate last school year from the country’s 350 nursing schools.
However, many of them are expected leave for work abroad.
The Philippines now supplies 25 percent of all nurses needed abroad, raising concerns on its effect on the country’s health care system.
(December 19, 2005 issue)
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