Difficult times? Schools need to be moored on the basics
PRIVATE colleges and universities are asking, where have all the students gone?
Two years after the implementation of the Senior High School ( SHS), the fear that the number of enrollees in the tertiary level would significantly drop has turned into reality for many private educational institutions.
One ostensible reason for this is the free tuition law on all State Colleges and Universities (SUCs), which
administration on higher education. It is unsurprising that this rings a sweet bell for many parents, who have witnessed the continuous and unstoppable rise of school fees in tertiary private schools.
But anything free should be taken with a grain of salt, especially in an enterprise like education. Stakeholders must not neglect the demand of quality. A significant number of private schools provide quality education that translates into graduates who have adequate skills to deliver to the needs of a developing country. This is evident in licensure examinations alone. Unfortunately, many of these schools now suffer the setback in enrolment.
Schools may also point to the “guarantee” of employability of fresh SHS graduates, which has yet to be proven true. Now that there are graduates, the question on whether the SHS only adds to
of most Filipino families or not would soon be answered. Another possible factor could be that the added two years in SHS have already depleted the family savings for education, or worse, buried families in debt.
But these conjectures could be easily shrugged off as guesswork until a formal study could be made so as to bring light on this ordeal of private tertiary education.
These trying times call for tough decisions on the part of private tertiary educational institutions. Schools need to be more creative, explorative and even daring as regards possible offering of programs to attract more students and arrest the down slide of enrollment. However, trying times also call for the organization to be strongly moored on the basics once again.
New innovations in running a school are necessary so as to keep
But one still has to revisit the basics. Jamil Salmi, an internationally renowned resource speaker and author on becoming a worldclass university, provides a simple compass that can guide schools toward a stable direction.
He proposes three foundations: the high concentration on talents, sound governance and administration, and a sizeable amount of funds. Institutions need to spend time and effort to get the best teachers, school personnel, researchers and even students. They have to formulate the best policies and to make sure that these are implemented. Meanwhile, shortage of budget could be a perennial problem for many schools in the country, but the wise use of resources can help a lot in an institution’s survival.
One may surmise that Salmi’s formula lean heavily on management. This is only one side of the coin because management requires leadership.
Leadership provides the vision, sets values and models the behavior that makes a desirable culture. It crystalizes the value proposition of a school, which would make potential students and their parents be convinced that they would want to be a part of the school and its vision.
In the end, good leadership in schools means good quality education. People are willing to pay for what is good. Any form of exploration and experimentation to attract students can be peeled off soon to discover what is at the center of any learning institution.
In these trying times, while it is important to soundly manage again schools, school leaders must also give a hard look on investing in leadership. Innovations may be a necessity, but it will be regrettable to ignore the basics at one’s own expense.