Senate bill seeks to address poor world ranking of PH universities

A BILL has been filed at the Senate proposing that Filipinos with dual citizenship be permitted to work in public higher educational institutions to address the poor standing of Philippine colleges and universities in world university rankings.

Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Joel Villanueva jointly filed Senate Bill No. 2733
which seeks to amend section 5 (3) of Republic Act 9255, or the Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition Act of 2003.

The two senators want to allow individuals who retain and re-acquire their Philippine citizenship be appointed as faculty, researchers, or administrators in public higher educational institutions (HEIs) without renouncing their previous oath of allegiance to another country.

Under RA 9255, individuals who retain or re-acquire their Philippine citizenship and are appointed to public office are required to renounce their oath of allegiance to another country.

Gatchalian said that removing the restriction will create a pool of internationally- competitive faculty members that HEIs can tap, and subsequently help address issues on the global ranking of public higher educational institutions and declining inbound faculty.

He noted that the Times Higher Education World University Ranking and the QS World University Rankings use the international faculty ratio as one of the criteria in assessing and ranking universities worldwide.

The weightage of international faculty, which excludes visiting professors, is equivalent to 2.5 percent.

Gatchalian also said that appointing foreigners as faculty members will help increase the number of international student enrolling in public HEIs.

“Sa gitna ng patuloy nating pagsulong ng internationalization sa sektor ng edukasyon, napapanahon nang buksan natin ang ating mga pambuklikong kolehiyo at mga pamantasan sa mga kababayan nating may mga dual citizenship. Magiging oportunidad ito para madagdagan ang bilang ng mga gurong handang magbahagi ng kanilang kaalaman at karanasan mula sa ibang bansa (It’s about time that we open our HEIs to our countrymen who have dual citizenship amid the globalization of the education sector. This will be an opportunity for us to have additional professors who are