No closure order vs PSU Alaminos

ALAMINOS CITY, Philippines — There is no closure order issued against the Pangasinan State University (PSU) campus in this city, according to the campus dean.

Dr. Elena Barcelona said in a press conference that when she checked with the regional office of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) the reported closure order last week, she was even told to prepare the necessary documents for the issuance of a permit for it to operate as one of the PSU campuses in the entire province.

Barcelona noted that CHED is actually a member of the PSU Board of Regents. But if the permit is not granted, she said the campus will just operate as an extension of the Lingayen campus.

The reported closure order apparently stemmed from the complaint recently aired by the presidents of private universities and colleges in Region 1.

Dr. Gonzalo Duque of the Lyceum-Northwestern University in Dagupan City said that the state university was already encroaching and unnecessarily competing against the private institutions by offering practically the same courses at a much lower fee.

But Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza, whose family has been maintaining the oldest college in this city, noted that education is a right not a privilege so that it is just proper for government to offer education at a much affordable rate to benefit the majority especially the poor.

Braganza said that he had to decide whether to allow PSU to set up campus in the city or side with his family and the private institutions. He said there is a need to respond to the needs of the poor, even as he challenged private institutions to reduce their tuition fees. He added that he is ready to transfer the city’s scholars to the PSU.

The city government has allotted P10 million for its 1,000 scholars this year under the city’s Bright Child program.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro, who was here Monday to launch the Education Without Borders project, could only nod in agreement.

Meanwhile, from 9,300 students in 2007, the number of students enrolled in PSU has ballooned to 17,921 in June 2010, or a tremendous increase of 92.69 percent in a span of four years only.

Dr. Victoriano Estira, PSU president, earlier said that PSU which was established in 1979, has been attracting many students, especially those who are poor, to get quality education.