Comparison of Higher Education Institutional Profile from one Region against Top Universities in the Philippines and their Degree Program Offerings

Oversupply of graduates from different degree programs of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) which are not priority courses of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is considered one of the challenges of the country on how to maintain the balance between the needs of the industry and society based on the number of qualified graduates. This study explored the institutional profile of 89 HEIs in one of the Regions in the Philippines to compare with the profile of top HEIs in the country and also considered the common degree programs being offered in the region to provide basic information on what degree programs to offer in the future by educational leaders to support the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Findings of the study revealed that most of the HEIs in the region have less than 1,000 student population with more than 20 years in operation, having 50 faculty members and below and faculty-student ratio of less than 11. The profile of top HEIs in the country is significantly higher in terms of population size, years in operation and number of faculty members compared to the HEIs in the region. Business related program is the most common curricular offering among the HEIs in the region followed by Teacher Education and Psychology. Educational leaders and managers might consider the availability of program offerings in the region in order to prevent the duplications. Cooperation among HEIs in the region is also suggested to strengthen the delivery of quality education through sharing of resources from mutual agreements.

Keywords: engineering, mathematics, priority degree programs, school profile, science, technology,.