The Future Begins Here… Daw
Aug 15 2004 Sun
10:58 pm PHT
I read with amusement the pamphlet entitled “Reasons why DLSU-Manila is the best choice for higher education.” I found this pamphlet in the DLSU application package that my fourth-year-high-school sister brought home. Naturally, I wondered what reasons could La Salle have to claim that they are the “best choice” as opposed to UP Diliman and Ateneo de Manila. According to the pamphlet, “DLSU-Manila is…”
“…the only Philippine private university that’s a member of the ASEAN University Network (AUN)…”
I’m glad they qualified it with the word “private” since UP Diliman is also a member of the AUN.
“…the first Philippine university to earn Level 4 accreditation—the highest level granted by the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges, and Universities (PAASCU)—in 2002…”
This is regularly used by the La Salle trolls in bashing Ateneo. Ateneo will get Level 4 accreditation, and being the first to get to that level is not the end-all-and-be-all of university superiority. UP Diliman is not a member of the PAASCU so it doesn’t have accreditation (which it does not need).
“…ranked as the best private university in the Philippines [Asiaweek 2000]…”
Ah, the much touted 2000 Asiaweek Best Universities survey. Aside from the fact that UP Diliman (#48) kicks DLSU’s butt in the aforementioned survey, the lead of La Salle (#71) over Ateneo (#72) is statistically insignificant (a difference of 0.03 percentage points)—Ateneo and La Salle are pretty much in par. More Asiaweek survey madness can be found in “The Academe” threads over at PinoyExchange.
“…tasked by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as a Zonal Research Center in the National Capital Region…”
I would be remiss not to mention the fact that UP Diliman is also a CHED Zonal Reseach Center in Metro Manila.
“…acknowledged by CHED as having 10 Centers of Excellence in the fields of Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electronics and Communications Engineering, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Literature, and Filipino and English Languages…”
Yeah, but UP Diliman has 24 CoEs: Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Marine Science, Music, Physics, English, Foreign Languages, Literature, Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Communication Arts, Journalism, Architecture, Electrical Engineering, Geodetic Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering, Anthropology, History, Filipino, and Geology.
“…also acknowledged as having Centers of Development in four fields, namely Business Management, Economics, Civil Engineering, and Industrial Engineering…”
UP Diliman has 8 CoDs: Business, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electronic & Communications Engineering, Mining Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Information Technology.
“…granted Level 3 re-accreditation by PAASCU in the graduate programs of College of Science, College of Liberal Arts, and College of Education in 2004…”
See above.
“…recipient of the 2003 Outstanding Library Award from the Philippine Association of Academic and Research Libraries (PAARL)…”
I will admit that La Salle’s library is definitely one of the most high-tech among the universities in the country. Just one question: who were the winners in the other years? (A little digging reveals that 2001’s winner is the IRRI Library, while 2004’s is the SIL Library.)
“…a consistent top performing school in the Certified Public Accountants licensure examinations (Category 2, with 51–99 examinees) since 1996, according to the Professional Regulatory Commission…”
So DLSU-Manila is probably the best choice when you want to be an accountant, but not necessarily the best choice in general. Besides, I would say that the top schools are just about even when it comes to the board and bar exam.
Don’t get me wrong; I don’t hate La Salle. In fact, I would’ve studied in La Salle if I didn’t go to UP. La Salle is a very good school with excellent facilities and provides great well-rounded education. I just wanted to diss their marketing materials.
The decision to go to one university or the other should largely depend on the course you want to take, and not because of the perceived quality of the university. San Beda is not considered to be one of the top universities in the country but they’ve got a very good law program, comparable to that of the Ateneo Law School and the UP College of Law. So if you wanted to be a lawyer, San Beda is definitely one option. A law student should not dismiss it because of its perceived lack of prestige.
Comments
Comment times are in Philippine time (+0800).
1
On 8:26 a.m., 24 Dec 2004, devo wrote:
San Beda is not among the top universities because it is not a university. Asiweek ranking is old stuff…check this Asian ranking. Ateneo, UP and La Salle did not even make it to the top 100 in the whole of Asia. What a pity.
http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2004/top500list.ht… http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2004/Top%20100%20A…
2
On 6:58 p.m., 24 Dec 2004, seav wrote:
You know what I mean when I said that San Beda is not considered one of the top universities (always saying “colleges and universities” is too verbose).
In addition, any attempt to rank universities (and colleges) is always subject to objection. Jiao Tong University, the proponents of the survey, even puts a disclaimer:
The ARWU puts heavy emphasis on Science and Technology (with criterias on Nobel and Fields Medals) which is not the forte of quite a lot of universities in the world in general.
In South East Asia, only Singapore has universities in the top 500 of the ARWU. There is no University of Malaya from Malaysia. No Chulalongkorn University from Thailand. And no Universitas Indonesia from Indonesia. You can’t expect University of the Philippines to be on the list either.
Then again, what we’re discussing is not the point of my post. All I’m saying is that one shouldn’t choose to go to a school because it’s supposedly the best school in general. There are many factors that one should consider when deciding to enroll in any educational institution, so it’s a matter of choosing the best school for you.
3
On 1:25 a.m., 9 Jun 2005, dax wrote:
Any ranking is controversial. However, there are many universities that are consistently ranked among the best in the world. None from the Philippines. You can’t even compare to the best in Asia.
UP, Ateneo and La Salle are the best among the bottom-tier universities in Southeast Asia. Too bad.
4
On 5:57 a.m., 9 Jun 2005, seav wrote:
dax, that’s your opinion, and a very subjective one at that. Where’s your objective proof? I’m not saying that Philippine universities are among the best in the world. But you said, “UP, Ateneo and La Salle are the best among the bottom-tier universities in Southeast Asia.” That’s going too far.
The ARWU only has two Southeast Asian universities in its list, and they’re both from Singapore. You cannot make an inference on Philippine universities compared to other SEA universities based on that.
Asiaweek in the only ranking that has a large sample of SEA universities in its list. And looking at that, there is still no basis for your statement.
Unless you mean to say that Indonesian, Malaysian, and Philippine universities are all bottom-tier. In which case, I think you have a very weird definition of “bottom-tier.”
5
On 8:39 a.m., 10 Jun 2005, joyce wrote:
I second euge’s post that it isn’t about ranking, it’s about being the best university for you. Saying “best” in your marketing/recruitment materials implies that you are #1 in various categories.
6
On 11:02 a.m., 1 Jul 2005, mick wrote:
you have to go beyond the PR stuff—of course when HEIs release brochures, et cetera, they’d be glossing over their supposed pluses, sometimes to the point of belittling other universities, considered their “opponents.” my suggestions? well, for one, yes it’s just right to look for the right school for you—if that means having to go to notre dame university in cotabato city to study peace education (where it was pioneered in early 1990s), then so be it. after all, even with level iv accreditation, i don’t think dlsu has the right course for everyone—but, of course, you won’t hear them say that (it’s bad PR). second, look at the people the schools produce—i mean, gloria arroyo studied overseas (and was even a classmate of bill clinton, as she likes to brag), but, really, is her background in economics (skewered towards american economics because of the contextual direction of her degree) necessarily applicable in the philippines? remember that while post-modern concepts promoted by western countries america, such as globalization, et cetera, are not necessarily applicable in developing countries because, heck, we’re not even modern yet (so what are we doing entertaining post-modern?). and of course, there are those saint benilde (always accepted as the school for those students who dlsu throws away, but wants to keep because they have the money) students who continue to pass with flying colors, despite knowing more about shooting balls in a hoop than whatever is supposed to be taught to them. third, check your budget. yes, supposedly PHEIs are able to offer more to their students because of the money they take from them. but if you can’t really afford the price, don’t force it. after all, getting a teaching degree at pnu is always ideal—and with per unit prices only pegged at P12, even more ideal than paying, say, dlsu which charges P1,700+ per unit. there are more, of course—but the point is, yes, forget the PR—they’re there to cloud the other real issues. check the degree you want, then consider your options—not necessarily based on the info gathered from the PR materials, but from other criteria including reputation, graduates produced (would you rather be a political savvy graduate from up, which continues to produce leaders, et cetera, or a mindless vj or tv personality, as dlsu has been producing many of those lately?), budget, et cetera, et cetera.
7
This comment has been annihilated.
8
This comment has been purged.
9
On 10:43 a.m., 19 Mar 2006, shiftee wrote:
biased… that is the only way i can remark this entry. well, it’s just La Salle vis-a-vis UP. and you, coming from UP would, of course, make UP better. And UP is not necessarily better in every way than La Salle. UP has its share of hits and so does La Salle.
We are all subjective, affected by the background we have. I would have given you the plaudits of making an objective insight of things but sorry. This is just one of the million opinions different people have about their OWN university. like “UP ako. Ikaw?”
And brother, San Beda? You gotta be kidding me. And La Salle’s opening College of Law in a few years. So watch out.
and yes. I AM FROM LA SALLE. UP ka? Ano ngayon?
10
On 12:41 p.m., 19 Mar 2006, seav wrote:
Hi shiftee,
Of course this entry’s biased. That’s what you should expect from a personal blog. I never pretended that this was an objective entry. It’s also non sequitur to claim that since I’m from UP, I would praise UP to high heavens.
Also, I never said that UP is better than La Salle in every way. If you read the entry carefully instead of being defensive, you should’ve realized that I was just making light fun of the promotional material. You’re reading too much into this entry and completely missed the point.
And why dismiss San Beda just like that? The San Beda Law School produced the likes of Senator Raul Roco.
You know what? I’m from La Salle, too, having taken the Christian Brothers style of education from prep till high school. That makes me both a La Sallian and an Iskolar ng Bayan. Ano nga naman ngayon?
16
On 3:12 a.m., 15 Nov 2006, Nick wrote:
As I have always believed, it is not always the academic institution that is important, but rather let us put emphasis on the individual student.
I graduated from the University of San Carlos, with a classmate of mine being the Board topnotcher in one of the Engineering Disciplines.
Although, it is definitely hard to put into rankings the top schools in The Philippines, I think this is definitely a task that should be fully studied now or in the future.
We also musn’t forget that each University tends to excel in individual courses of study (law, nursing, engineering, etc.)
Conclusion, none. Rankings depend too much on many variables.
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