Lousy Universities in Dagupan City?

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By Mortz C. Ortigoza

In terms of aggressive TV advertisement, it seems the new Phinma-run University of Pangasinan has the upper hand against its counterparts in Dagupan City and Pangasinan by exhorting students to avail of its so called “quality” education.

But the word quality is not only cheap to say but can be outrightly deceptive.

Those who know the “economics” of quality education in the city and the province, would say to your face point blank that it is Colegio de Dagupan that was not blacklisted by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) on its “shame list” it released at national dailies in November 2009. CHED divulged that 147 of nursing schools in the country face closure as their graduates performed below the national passing percentage rate of 46.14 for the past five years. And, susmariosep, some of them are in Dagupan.(You can read the entirety of that article in my column at http://northwatch.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/below-standard-universities/). CHED has threatened also to close the Bachelor of Science in Accountancy of these institutions if they would not shape-up as they have low if not zero passing percentile in the board for Certified Public Accountant .

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An official of a mall in Dagupan told me that whenever his company gives qualifying test to applicants for employment, graduates of universities in Baguio like the University of Baguio and Saint Louis University passed if not topped the test.

He said their counterparts in Dagupan become pathetic- thanks but no thanks to their diploma mill education.

Mrs. Josephine Bahul, chief of Media Affairs of UB, told me recently that her college had 13 thousand enrollees last semester – a far cry to the 4000 to 7000 student population of every university and a major college in Dagupan. She continued that SLU has 23 thousand enrollees. UB and SLU are the dominant tertiary schools in Northern Luzon.

But it did not stop the school management runs by the Bautista to soar to another level. It did not stop foraying particularly in Pangasinan by telling all and sundry in the humongous province what quality education the mountain-based academe offers.

She told me that the bulk of the clients of UB hailed from Pangasinan – the biggest province even to the combined provinces of the two Ilocos and La Union all based in Region 1.

“We see to it that UB is felt through our aggressive advertisement there”.

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Going back to the mall official, he disclosed to me that if people in Pangasinan have money they would rather send their children to universities in Baguio that reciprocate the worth of their hard earned monies with much better service and chances for their children to pass the government-sanctioned board examinations .

“Colleges and universities in Dagupan City stink”, he told me in whisper.

(You can read my selected intriguing but thought-provoking columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com).