The National University Of The Philippines

This year, the University of the Philippines celebrates its Centennial Year, marking another milestone in our nation’s education history. The celebration is a national event led by the UP Centennial Commission, which I am honored to head. 

As it enters its second century of existence, UP needs to reinvent itself. For one, the educational field has become highly complex, fully competitive and academic programs and research have become truly global.   

The world we live in today is extremely complex, competitive and innovation-driven.  Educational institutions must respond to this new environment.  Even more so UP, as the country’s national university. 

UP must be well positioned to produce the creative work force which today generates the wealth of the world. After 100 years of exceptional education leadership, producing the best scientists, engineers, and artists, we must take UP to an even higher plane: as the leading research university, firming up its science and technology programs, and developing a community of scholars comparable to those of the best universities in the world. 

Science and technology is the direction of the future.  The key to prosperity in today’s world is a well-educated, technically skilled workforce producing high value added, knowledge intensive goods and services.  Globally, jobs and wealth are increasingly created through S&T. 

Science graduates provide a principal source of innovation and growth in the modern economy.  The quality of undergraduate science education directly affects both the number of scientists and the capabilities of students who will later on become engineers, researchers and teachers.   

Filipino students would have the benefit of world-class education if our premiere national university is given the support needed to compete with the best in the world. To achieve that, UP must be able to develop and retain good faculty and have the best instructional facilities. 

During my term as president of UP, the alumni’s support was instrumental to the success of our 75th anniversary, the Diamond Jubilee. Not only was UP able to reach its goal of raising P75 million – which in the 1980s was already a hefty amount – but it even overshot its target.  Through the pledges and contributions by alumni and partners, we were able to create professorial chairs, build infrastructure and improve laboratories.   

This year we are raising P5 billion for the University. We hope that the support of the alumni here and abroad, and our people as well, will help make the Centennial a similar, if not greater, success. 

UP’s legacy of public service spans almost a century. The theme for the Centennial is “UP: Excellence, Service, and Leadership in the Next 100 Years.”   

The University of the Philippines has served our country and our people in various roles. It has provided generation after generation of leaders in law and justice, politics and civil society, health sciences and life sciences, engineering, culture and the arts, and letters and literature. The UP alumni have contributed to vital aspects of society and government, and have greatly influenced the shaping of a Filipino nation. 

Right now, UP’s challenge is to keep its highly qualified faculty and staff.  The College of Business Administration lost six faculty members in 2006, and the College of Engineering 18 PhDs, to cite only a precious few. They are the heart and soul of the University. We must exert all efforts at making them stay and continue the University’s tradition of outstanding service. 

UP’s revised charter, recently enacted by both chambers of Congress, may help in the effort. 

As a publicly funded institution, UP must strive to be a productive research institution with superior graduate programs and an extensive community outreach.  UP must clearly define its role in a fast-moving, technology-oriented world.