Identity crisis in our universities

By Dr. Niceto S. Poblador
Inquirer
Last updated 11:12pm (Mla time) 10/22/2006

THE RECENTLY FORMED ASSOCIATION of professionals, Philippine Business for Education (PBEd), has sounded off the clarion call to address the dismal state of Philippine education.

The business leaders that comprise this organization are best positioned to know that our educational system is simply not producing the knowledge resources that this country so desperately needs to compete effectively in a global, information-driven business environment.

There are countless reasons for the sorry state of education. One that certainly stands out is the failure of universities as social institutions to play their mandated role in society.

I shall argue here that universities in this country, with rare exceptions, have become ineffective in their social roles because they have lost their sense of mission and have become insensitive to their responsibility in addressing the crying needs of Philippines society.

Universities today are suffering from what could be termed as an identity crisis.

Most of them operate as quasi-business organizations funded by individuals, religious organizations, or private foundations that serve as the equivalent of shareholders in business corporations.

This group of stakeholders is entitled to the residual incomes of the universities, however, these returns on invested capital are labeled.

As a social institution, however, the university serves society and its many other stakeholders in many, often conflicting ways.

Traditionally, the university has had the important role of serving as repository of human knowledge and culture.

In this capacity, the university is seen as having a maintenance function, that of insuring continuity of the community’s cultural heritage, its knowledge and technological base, social mores, values, beliefs and traditions.

By all outward indications—the recent nursing board examination scandal, for example—many universities are blissfully unaware of their role in preserving our national heritage and the human values that have long been part of our culture.

Social role

The university has yet another important social role. The university must also serve as an agent of change for society.

This function of the university has in recent years assumed greater importance due to the dramatic transformation in social, political and economic organization brought about by the information revolution, changes that are taking place at an ever accelerating pace.

As a major player in the creation and dissemination of knowledge, the university plays a key role in helping individuals, communities and other institutions adapt to these changes.

Indeed, the university itself must also learn to adapt to these changes. Regrettably, universities in this country have been remiss in fulfilling their social function as active participants in the change process.

In today’s fast-changing and increasingly complex society, universities must also serve the conflicting interests of their many other stakeholders. Among the direct beneficiaries of the universities’ activities are their students and the prospective employers of their graduates.

Free enterprise education

Most universities in the country today see themselves as being “market-driven” and produce the types of knowledge and competencies that are in demand by students and employers. As a rule, students enroll in courses that they perceive will enhance their “employability.”

However, in satisfying these perceived immediate needs of their students, universities fail to provide them with the basic knowledge and competencies that are essential for life long learning and personal growth.

Without these personal skills, they are unable to continue learning after they leave the university, and they will fail to achieve their full potential as productive members of their organizations and of the community.

The demand of most prospective employers is typically for the types of knowledge, skills and capabilities that are considered “useful” and “practical” for the organization.

Not too many employers actively seek creative, innovative and critical minded graduates because they tend to be “intractable” and hence, unproductive.

Yet, ironically, this precisely is the type of knowledge workers that organizations need for their long run survival in today’s fast-changing, highly complex, and continuously evolving world of knowledge.

Moral obligation

I believe that the university has the moral obligation to change the misplaced perceptions of their “’customers,” and to convince them that their long-run interests, and those of society, depends on a different type of knowledge and value orientation than what they have long been accustomed to demand and to pay for.

The faculty comprises yet another important group of stakeholders in any university. Its professional teaching staff constitutes the university’s collective mind and soul, and its main workforce in service delivery.

In addition to decent incomes that satisfy their basic economic needs, professors must also be provided with ample opportunities for professional development and the wherewithal for leading wholesome, productive lives.

Long-term interest

This in the long run is in the interest not only of the faculty, but indeed, of the university itself.

A final group of stakeholders in the university, mentioned at the early part of this column, are the individuals and organizations that invest the needed funds and resources.

This group of stakeholders typically requires their appointed agents—the men and women who manage and administer the university “to run a tight ship,” as the expression goes, and exert pressures on them to maximize organizational efficiency and effectiveness.

Regrettably, by being too focused on achieving short-term, measurable results, university administrators frequently compromise not only the long-run interest of the “owners” but more importantly, those of all the other stakeholders in the university as well.

There are no hard and fast rules for solving this crisis. In the ultimate analysis, much depends on enlightened academic leadership and a high sense of moral responsibility among those who make the critical choices, both in and out of the university.

These, regrettably, appear to be in short supply in this all-important sector of our society.