PACUCOA and the Accreditation of Philippine HEIs

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Higher education in Philippines is both highly diversified and pluralistic, where

private Catholic institutes, coexist with Protestant non-sectarian establishments along

with public institutions due to the unique history of the Philippines. It was realized by

various private educators in 1951 of the need of accreditation to enhance the quality of

education through a system of standards, continuous monitoring and implementation,

and self assessment done on a voluntary basis. It was envisioned that through

accreditation, appropriate guidance shall be provided to parents and students seeking

higher education. Also, this shall enable greater co-operation among higher education

institutions (HEIs). On this premise, PACUCOA was established to ensure quality

accreditation for private non-sectarian HEI bodies.

This report aims to look at the accreditation process and the benefits as provided

by PACUCOA, and its impact on private HEIs as part of the Industry Program

commissioned at AIM. This report does an analysis of the current situation of the

Accreditation process by studying the key macroeconomic drivers and the recent reforms

and historical background on the Education system of Philippines. One of the key

objectives is to meet the challenges of globalization and where strategies are especially

complex because of expansion of markets beyond national borders. Therefore, education

must help individuals to perform tasks for which they were not originally trained, to

prepare for a nonlinear path, to improve their team skills, to use information

independently and, finally, to lay the basis of complex thinking linked to the realities of

globalization and a knowledge-based economy.

This report further traces the development of accreditation among HEIs in

Philippines and PACACUA’s relation with other bodies and international standards like

Washington and Bologna Accord. The key industry players for Higher Education, SWOT

Analysis and key success factors for Accreditation and quality improvement are discussed.

Learning Team 5, MM 2011-B

PACUCOA and the Accreditation of Philippine HEIs

This is followed by recommendations to improving the current processes in

PACUCOA and Higher Education in general with the aim of creating a Knowledge

economy for Philippines in the increasing global world.

Learning Team 5, MM 2011-B