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6 Things You Want to Look for When Picking Your School for College



Choosing which course to pursue for college is already challenging in its own right. Add to that picking which school to go to among the thousands of colleges, universities, and institutes all over the Philippines and the difficulty levels up a notch.

Although there is no single way to identify the best among the lot, there are a couple of important factors that you can look into to help you come up with a decision like the examples below:

 

CHED Recognition

All colleges, institutes, and universities (collectively known as Higher Educational Institutions or HEIs) are required to gain recognition from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in order to operate legally.

Any credentials (diploma, transcript of records, etc.) issued by an academic institution not recognized by CHED will therefore not be recognized as valid both in the Philippines and overseas. Because of this, being on CHED’s list of accredited institutions is one of the first things you need to check before you evaluate everything else.

 

CHED Awards

Aside from granting accreditation to higher educational institutions, CHED is also responsible for identifying HEIs that are considered to be Centers of Excellence (COE) and Centers of Development (COD) in various academic programs.

Since HEIs go through a strict evaluation process to be designated as a COE or a COD — including an assessment of the quality of teaching at the campus, the number of academic research that they have published, the number of extension programs that they offer and their partnerships with other institutions — a COE or COD distinction can be an indication of a school’s ability to compete with the best of the best.

 

Licensure Exam Performance

Passing rates in the different licensure examinations administered by the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) is not enough to determine whether a school will be good for you or not; however, if a school consistently produces high passing rates across different licensure examinations, then it is probably safe to say that they are doing something right.

If the course that you will be taking requires you to pass a licensure exam in order to practice your chosen profession, performing some comparisons would not hurt.

 

Facilities

Campus facilities are usually not very high up the list of factors that students typically consider when choosing a school to go to, but you might want to bump it up a bit.

Not having a spacious parking lot or fully air-conditioned rooms are no deal-breakers, but the quality of the school library, the multimedia rooms, laboratories (computer, science, or other course-specific laboratories) definitely requires attention.

If you have the time, try to browse around the websites of the schools in your area to get a peek of their facilities or ask around at online forums for tips on what the schools you are interested in have to offer.

 

Scholarship Programs

Plenty of Filipino students can barely afford an education — if they can afford it all. The good thing is lots of schools offer different scholarship programs to provide financial assistance to qualified students.

These programs — as well as the schools offering them — may have different requirements, though, so if you’re aiming for a scholarship grant, browsing through the scholarship programs that each school offers before you make your decision would be a good idea.

 

Linkages

With the job market becoming increasingly competitive, it’s important that you take advantage of each opportunity to increase your knowledge, hone your talents, learn new skills, and widen your social network as early as you possibly can.

A school with strong ties to other academic institutions, government agencies, and private institutions can be a big help in achieving all of these, so take time to read school profiles to see what kinds of tie-ups they currently have, with whom, and which ones align with your goals.

 

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