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Tuesday, August 01, 2006
RP urged to promote self as education hub
Aside from promoting the country as a hub for tourism and business process outsourcing, the Philippines can also position itself as an education hub in Asia.
According to Ginny Santiago, associate professor of De La Salle University-Manila, the global trade in education is estimated to be at $30 billion with about 20 million students willing to study outside their countries of origin.
With the Philippines’ known competitiveness in the field of health care and English proficiency, she said the country has the potential to attract foreign students to enroll in its schools.
However, the Philippines has attracted only 4,000 students of the 20 million.
This is small compared to the 18,800 foreign students enrolled in Malaysia in 2001 and who added some $65 million to the country’s revenue.
This is because of some government policies, such as the lack of guidelines from the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) on the scope of responsibilities in training the students and the 10 percent cap placed by the government on the number of foreign students in an educational institution, she said.
Expertise
These policies are over and above the issue on the quality of education in the country and the lack of promotion on the country’s education expertise to the international market.
Santiago said the country stands a chance to become an education hub if it joins trade fairs on education abroad, as what other countries aggressively do.
“Ched had tried this before, promoting the country’s educational capabilities abroad, and it has resulted to an increase of foreign student enrollees to 4,000 from 2,400. But that was the first and the last (time it promoted the coutnry),” she said.
Capacity
Santiago said some universities in Metro Manila have decided to come together and promote as one the country’s capacity in the field of education initially to China, Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand.
The group positions the country as a cost-effective alternative with the reasonable tuition, lower cost of living, affordable travel expenses, English-speaking residents and varied tourist attractions.
Santiago said strategies of other countries, such as Singapore, Hong Kong and India, include open-door policy for foreign institutions, maximization of colonial relations, development of a country-brand, improvement of English skills and establishment of incentives to attract locals back to the country after foreign education.
In Cebu, the International Academy of Film and Television of the Bigfoot group of companies, has been slowly attracting foreign students of film and television to study in Cebu.
In studying in a foreign country, Santiago said foreign students look for good quality of education, safe environment, affordable tuition, degree recognition and employment prospects. (JBN)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 1, 2006 issue)
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