Saturday, September 13, 2008 Improve business courses
FOR the academe these days, it is no longer about providing education. With the rising number of Filipino professionals leaving the country for overseas jobs, schools have to develop courses that encourage Filipinos to stay and set up businesses in the community.
Commission on Higher Education (Ched) 7 business education supervisor Carlyn dela Peña said nearly all colleges and universities in Central Visayas now offer Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA), after Ched issued a memorandum containing policies and guidelines for the course.
She said these schools include subjects on franchising, e-commerce and Internet marketing in the BSBA course.
“We need to adjust to the changing business climate in order to compete with other countries. Many of our graduates are leaving the country so let us re-check what needs to be improved to motivate them to stay and build businesses here,” said dela Peña. “More businesses mean more jobs,” she added.
She said that giving students the right tools is a form of motivation that can be provided by academic institutions.
Tools in franchising, for instance, can be imparted to students through a three-unit elective within 54 class hours for marketing management majors and other students enrolled in BSBA.
Dela Peña said that even though local schools do not have enough books about franchising, events—such as the 9th Cebu Franchise Expo that opened yesterday at SM City Trade Hall—help augment learning.
Under Ched Memorandum Order 39, series of 2006, franchising as a course is one of the suggested electives for the BSBA curriculum to introduce to students franchising as a method of retail business. Other new courses that have been developed based on new trends in business are e-commerce and Internet marketing and capital markets, among others.
Policies
The memorandum requires all higher education institutions (HEIs) to adhere to stated policies and standards, including the curriculum that “covers a balance treatment of functional areas in human resource management, marketing, finance, operations and economics.”
HEIs offering Bachelor of Science in Commerce are also mandated to rename the course to BSBA, which includes five major areas: human resource development management, marketing management, financial management, operations management and business economics.
Dela Peña said schools were given three school years, from the date of issuance of the memorandum, to comply.
“In our yearly monitoring, almost all the schools in Central Visayas have followed the (memorandum). Those that wish to update their curriculum according to the (memorandum) must also inform us through a letter and a copy of their updated curriculum that is consistent with their syllabi,” she said.
Ched gets assistance from recently organized Association of Deans and Educators in Business (Adeb) 7, led by Cebu Institute of Technology-College of Commerce dean Alexander Delantar, in monitoring compliance among schools and in training teachers.
Adeb aims establish cooperation with the private sector to provide more hands-on experiences for students. (NRC)
