Philippine college programs place too much emphasis on general education (GE) courses and fall short in offering internships and hands-on training, according to discussions during a House Committee on Basic Education hearing today.
Dr. Edizon Fermin, Chairperson of the CHED Technical Panel for Teacher Education, highlighted the imbalance in the current higher education curriculum. "Currently po, sa laki ng GE (general education) component ng higher ed natin, lumalabas po na 42% ng credit structure natin ay GE. So lumalabas, lahat ng graduates natin ng higher ed ay minor in GE. Kasi po umulit yung configuration ng exit courses natin in the key disciplines kahit na may college readiness standards".
Fermin proposed that transferring or "downloading" some GE subjects to the Senior High School (SHS) curriculum could reduce college program duration by at least one semester, helping students graduate sooner.
Echoing these concerns, EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee cited initial findings from a Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) research, noting that Philippine college programs exceed international norms. "The study shows that across the board, college courses in the Philippines exceed requirements in ASEAN, Australia, and EU, with most bachelors programs being 'GE-heavy, internship-light". This means that Filipino students end up with dozens more units compared to other countries", Yee said.
As an example, the Professional Courses, General Education, and Internship components of the Bachelor of Business Administration Curriculum by CHED are compared to their counterparts from Southeast Asia, Europe, and Australia.
House Committee Chair and EDCOM 2 Co-Chairperson Rep. Roman Romulo also referenced the PIDS study, noting, "There's a PIDS study, and it said that nung nagbawas ng GE subjects, ang ginawa naman ng CHED technical panels, nag-add. But the thing is we went over and beyond, ang daming dinagdag, ang dami ring nahirapang makatapos," he said.
During the hearing, the Department of Education (DepEd) presented its revised SHS curriculum. The updated framework reduces the number of core subjects to five, aligning them more closely with CHED's required GE courses. By "downloading" these courses to SHS, DepEd aims to ease the college curriculum load and eliminate redundancy.
In addition to core courses, DepEd plans to offer a menu of elective subjects tailored to academic or career interests, ensuring students are both college- and career-ready.
However, concerns were raised that this flexible elective system might result in students bypassing foundational content required in college. Rep. Stella Quimbo cautioned that while student choice is important, a balance must be maintained to avoid repeating subjects at the college level.
In response, CHED assured the Committee that it is working closely with DepEd to embed key GE competencies into the SHS curriculum. Through its reconstituted technical panels, CHED is also reviewing higher education programs to eliminate overlap with high school coursework.
"CHED and DepEd should work together in providing a list that considers what students will need in college while also giving them leeway for their interests," Yee said. "The goal is to ensure that the electives students choose in SHS can meet potential prerequisite requirements for college, while also allowing their other elective choices to be credited later on."
"The core subjects in the new SHS curriculum mirror the competencies of the GE subjects in first year college. Effectively, mawawala na siya [in college]. 'Yung three GE subjects, napagkasunduan na ng CHED at DepEd, na that can be found in Arts, Araling Panlipunan, ang GMRC... So tatanggalin na rin 'yun, so possibly, makakabawas tayo ng one semester sa college," Romulo said, concluding the hearing urging both agencies to work closely together for better alignment of basic and higher education programs.
