‘College graduates performing better in board exams’

MANILA, Philippines - College graduates in the country have slightly improved their overall performance in the licensure examinations administered by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo revealed yesterday.

Romulo, chairman of the House committee on higher and technical education, said some 42.9 percent of examinees passed their professional eligibility tests in 2012.

“Though still somewhat low, this nonetheless represents a marked upturn, considering that the overall passing rate averaged only 36.6 percent from 2005 to 2011,” Romulo said.

“The 6.3 percentage point jump in the overall passing rate, from 36.6 percent to 42.9 percent, is significant. We are hoping that the passing rate will pick up some more in the years ahead,” he said.

Romulo said the figures were based on the outcome of licensure tests conducted by the PRC for 56 groups of professionals, from aeronautical engineers to X-ray technologists.

Citing a study by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Romulo said many college graduates are still out of work simply because they have yet to pass their professional qualifying tests, often a key requisite for local as well as overseas employment.

The CHED has stepped up pressure on colleges and technical institutes to build up their academic preparation of students, so as to increase the number of graduates passing their licensure tests and immediately obtaining gainful employment.

Last June, the CHED ordered 218 tertiary schools nationwide to stop offering substandard nursing courses, after less than 30 percent of their graduates passed the nurse licensure examination in the last three years, Romulo said.

Some of the nursing programs shut were also found to be lacking in competent faculty, training hospital, laboratories and libraries, he added.

The CHED has also stopped several colleges from offering substandard marine engineering and marine transportation programs.

Romulo said PRC statistics showed that out of the 401,827 graduates who took their licensure tests in 2012, some 42.9 percent, or 172,400 examinees, passed.

In 2011, around 36.2 percent of examinees (or 146,802 out of 405,104) passed their licensure tests, while in 2010, some 33.8 percent (or 141,525 out of 418,924) made the grade, he said.

Romulo said the overall passing rate in licensure tests was 35.4 percent in 2005; 37.8 percent in 2006; 38.2 percent in 2007; 38.7 percent in 2008, and 36.3 percent in 2009.