Some senators want foreign students banned in SUCs

Several senators on Monday said foreign students must not be admitted to state colleges and universities (SUCs) as they underscored that the government subsidy to these institutions must be enjoyed by more Filipino students.

During the Senate hearing for the proposed P50 billion budget for the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and P79 billion budget for SUCs, Senator Imee Marcos raised the issue of foreign students being admitted by the country's SUCs in their medical program.

"The problem identified by Senator Marcos refers to SUCs that have a lot of foreign students in their medical program and there are accusations that the foreign students are crowding out the local students in these medical programs," CHED chairperson Prospero De Vera III said in response.

"Kung ako lang po ang masusunod, ang posisyon ko diyan ay basta't state university ka, sa medical program dapat ang estudyante mo Pilipino lang but those decisions are made by the board of regents of the individual state universities," he added.

Currently, there are only eight SUCs in the country which offer medicine and P4.6 billion would be needed to expand the capacity to admit more aspiring doctors, according to CHED.

De Vera added that he personally thinks foreign students enrolled in SUCs must be charged higher for fees that they are paying. He, nonetheless, said not all of these government-funded schools are admitting foreigners.

"The only limitation now is that when the schools ask for reimbursement of the tuition and miscellaneous fees, they cannot claim foreign students from the subsidy of the government... They can, under the powers of their boards, decide on the admission policies for foreign students," he further said.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon found it "a bit repulsive" that the taxpayers' money is being used to educate foreign medical students in the Philippines.

"Let them enroll in private schools and pay the appropriate fees... I just cannot accept that foreign students will go into SUCs without any restrictions, particularly in the areas where our own Filipino students are struggling to get into, this is the field of medicine for example" Drilon said.

"Just look at the number of applicants for medical schools admission and how many are accepted. Why? Because of the lack of facilities," he added.

Senator Cynthia Villar also believes the slots in SUCs must be given to Filipinos.

"I don't really agree that we should educate the foreign students in our SUCs. We have limited capacity and we should give it to the Filipinos, not to foreigners," she said.

Drilon asked De Vera to draft a special provision that would limit the admission of foreign students in SUCs in the country, also considering the international linkages that should be maintained by the academe.

"This is not only in medicine. In general, this principle should apply. In all SUCs public funds are used so we must have some reclamation here," Drilon said.

"I would submit to the committee the appropriate language that Senator Drilon is requesting," De Vera said.

Senator Pia Cayetano also asked CHED to identify the specific courses in the SUCs that foreigners are applying to get into.—LDF, GMA News