The Talisay City College, which was founded by former congressman and former Talisay City mayor Eduardo R. Gullas, is now a virtually a state college. This developed with the passage recently in the House of Representatives of Congressman Samsam Gullas' bill amending one of the provisions of R.A. 10594, the law converting TCC into a state college. Such provision requires that the existing courses of the college be first accredited under Level III status before it can operate as a nationally funded state college.
It will be recalled that TCC operates at present as a community college whose legal basis is a city ordinance enacted in 2001. As such, funding is locally sourced with the city government subsidizing part of its operation. But once the Senate approves the bill TCC's conversion will be fully accomplished and funding will be provided for by the national government, thus freeing the city from its financial obligation and enabling the school to expand its operation and enhance its curricular offerings. More importantly, it will be capable of absorbing more students, especially those from low income families.
With fund support from the national government a new site can be acquired and new buildings built plus the possibility of acquiring state-of-the-art teaching facilities to improve its instructional programs. More significant is the possibility of standardizing its faculty through the recruitment of highly-qualified academic and non-academic personnel whose remunerations will be comparable with those in regular state institutions.
Presently, most of the faculty members are on part-time terms, including the department heads. Many are serving the college on "secondment arrangement." As a result, there is a sense of tentativeness of their service, a situation which is not conducive to quality instruction. Once operated as a regular state college with its national funding source, this deficiency will be a thing of the past, and a general improvement of the quality of education would be the likely result.
TCC as a state institution will certainly enhance the chances of Talisay youth to take and complete college courses with a minimum of expenditure. Most of such courses however, like what is presently offered, are profession-oriented such as education, business administration, arts and science, computer science. Graduates of these courses are employment ready, but since there's a glut of them, not many land a job after graduation.
What therefore should be the strategy of TCC once it starts functioning as a state college?
First, it should continue its current profession-oriented programs to respond to the need of developing professionals and career men and women in that city.
Second, it should go strong in offering technical-vocational courses to provide employment-related training to thousands of young Talisaynons in order to make them gainfully employed locally or abroad.
Ideally, such courses should be operated in a separate campus and managed by a technology experienced director and assisted by fully qualified vocational instructors particularly those who have had exposure to Tesda skills programs. In fact, a tight linkage with Tesda should be set up to facilitate skills certification of the trainees, a requirement for immediate employment.
Operating a strong tech-voc program of course requires substantial fund support, what with the equipment to be purchased along with consumable materials. But such fund can be sourced from the TC state college itself which shall serve as the "mother" school of the proposed satellite campus. This, plus financial supports from other sources, should ensure the operation of an expanded skills training program which can enroll hundreds of students per term.
But simply skills training without employment assistance will not do. The school should also operate an effective employment office which will be responsible for the placement of its finishers locally and abroad. With this set up unemployed adults in the city can look forward to the possibility of job placements after training.
On the whole, with the TCC functioning fully as a national college the quality of life of the average Talisaynon would be greatly unproved. And with that can progress be far behind?