PACU backs colleges over foreign students' issue

(UPDATE) THE Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU) is giving its support to four of its member private colleges and universities in Cagayan, who expressed concern over reports surrounding the enrollment of foreign nationals as their students.

In a statement on Thursday, the colleges and universities are the University of Cagayan Valley, Medical Colleges of Northern Philippines, St. Paul University Philippines and the University of Saint Louis-Tuguegarao.

«PACU is alarmed by the false narrative that foreign students are enrolling in Philippine schools with ulterior motives that pose a threat to our national security,» the statement said.

«As an organization that envisages nation-building through transformative private education, PACU calls the public of information which may not be rooted in the truth,» it added.

Also, PACU stated, «While efforts to safeguard our nation's security are acknowledged, PACU believes that these baseless reports and insinuations discredit and disparage the diligent work put in by these esteemed colleges and universities in building and maintaining their reputation as providers of quality Filipino education.»

They also said private higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Philippines have their own stringent admission criteria and screening processes in place «to ensure the sustainability of applicants, whether Filipinos or foreigners,» and adhere to the regulations of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd).

«In fact, prior to earning the privilege to accept foreign students, Private HEIs must demonstrate dutiful compliance with pertinent government regulations and requirements,» PACU argued.

The private tertiary education union also said that the said reports question the integrity of the CHEd and the Bureau of Immigration, who process and supervise the entry and stay of foreign nationals as students in the Philippines.

The PACU had called on the public to stop spreading «baseless insinuations that do more harm than good to the Philippine education industry as a whole.»

«PACU upholds its commitment to vigilantly protect our national patrimony without sacrificing its mission of being a socially