Are there options for an American to go to school in the Philippines?

Question

I am curious about my options of continuing my education in the Philippines. As of now I am planning to become a chemical engineer, but not being near my fiancee is becoming extremely trying... She is unable to come here for 10 years, and I plan on moving there once I get my degree. My question is; would it be a significant disadvantage to go to school in the Philippines? I know very little tagalog as of now. If it is a seemingly good idea, what are some details I should look at? Names of colleges?

Answer 1

De La Salle University (2401 Taft Avenue, Malate, Manila) is the premier school for the Sciences and Engineering in the Philippines. It has world-class facilities, a large international student body, an autonomous student council, affiliated with lots of institutions from around the world, and is the premier research university in the Philippines. DLSU, as it is known, is affiliated with La Salle College of the United States.

Answer 2

you dont need to speak tagalog to attend schools here in the phils.  for college education, studying in the phils is good choice.  some schools you can consider for engineering degree - PUP, PLM, Mapua and UP

Answer 3

No offense to the homeland and I'm not tryin' to "hate" on the educational system there, but why would you wanna go to a school there when you have a plethora of institutions globally recognized right here?

UP, which is supposedly the "highest ranked" university in the PI, is globally ranked like 398 (!) But if you plan on staying in the PI, it may not matter. My opinion, though-it would only be worth living in the PI if you were living off an American salary. And even though you'd be a chemical engineer, I doubt the pay there would afford you the type of lifestyle you'd have if you were here in the U.S. I think that if you plan on living in the PI for the rest of your life, it won't hurt for you to go to school there. But if you ever try to come back to the U.S., then I don't think you'd be competitive enough in the job market to get a good job here, considering your counterparts would have been educated at places like MIT, Caltech, Stanford, UCSB, Univ of MN (the best masters programs for chem. engineering).......just MHO.

I'm curious as to why your fiancee can't come here for 10 yrs.....hmm....

I found this article online from Malaya Newspaper (One of the few that I found that actually reports real news and not just silly Manila "gossip")---it's a couple yrs old, so the rankings are not exact (UP slipped from 299 to 398 which is "worse")...but you get the gist.

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By Angel Alcala

The top 520 universities of the world are listed in the website http//www.top-universities.com/worlduniv... The first 10 are, in the following order, Harvard University, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, Stanford University, California Institute of Technology, University of California at Berkeley, Imperial College London and Princeton University. Massachusetts and Yale tied for the 4th rank, making Stanford the 5th in the ranking. About 20 percent of the 520 universities are American universities. I have not searched the website so I do not know the criteria used for the rankings. But, as everybody knows, the above-named universities are generally well known to be among the top ones. Therefore, there seems to be no doubt about the reliability and credibi-lity of the rankings.

With this conclusion, I would like to discuss one important criterion pro-bably used by the evaluators in arri-ving at their decisions. (There are of course other criteria.) This criterion (value for money) is the success of a university administration (trustees, president, deans) and professors (that is, real professors in the academic sense, not as loosely used in the Phi-lippines) in accessing funds and other support for the most important academic or intellectual activities of a university. These activities are research and graduate teaching.

Research and graduate teaching are closely related in top universities and are the key activities in the ge-neration of new knowledge in universities. Top professors in such universities are in demand and tend to attract more graduate students than ordinary professors. They are also the professors that receive all kinds of grants to pursue research and improve graduate teaching. Their academic departments are recipients of infrastructure and laboratory grants, donations, endowments, prizes, etc. from donors such as alumni, philanthropists, industries, foundations, governments, funding agencies, etc. I observed all these during my 3-year graduate degree studies at one top American university. In the Philippines, I give the example of the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute.

In summary, top international universities have top administrators and top professors, all of which attract funding and other kinds of academic support over and above their trustee-approved budgets for running their academic programs. Such universities wield much influence on human affairs.

The rankings have serious implications to the Philippines, a country that would like to enter the global arena not only in business and trade but also in higher education. But the Philippine record is not so good, especially if compared with some of our ASEAN neighbors (see below). Only four have made the list, namely, the University of the Philippines (rank 299), the De La Salle University (rank 392), the Ateneo de Manila University (rank 484), and the University of Santo Tomas (rank 500). None have been included in the top 100. Our national performance is something to be worried about. What can the Commission on Higher Education do? Is it in fact ready to respond?

For ASEAN countries, Thailand has 7 universities included in the list (ranks 161, 317, 322, 404, 418, 475, 481). Indonesia has 4 universities (ranks 250, 258, 270, 495). Malaysia has 2 universities (ranks 192, 292). Singapore has two universities at the top 100 (ranks 19, 61), making it the best performing ASEAN country. We should ask how Sin

Answer 4

Since Philippine Education is patterned from the U.S., the Filipino attitude of welcoming foreigners and everybody speaks American English, you can easily be assimilated to the Filipino meanstream in the University. However, one great disadvantage of having a degree here is that you as well is required to take a state-board exam in your home country when you want your degree be accredited there. Well, it will be at your own pace on how you will qualify since it is you being measured how far you have gone in your studies here. But education per se, if you are deligent and will focus much in your studies here, you will surely pass your country's board exam since the curriculum here is very similar (if not the same) with the US. Top performing schools in the field of engineering here are University of the Philippines in Diliman, in Mindanao there are two MSU main campus and MSU-IIT. I suggest, you choose either of these schools I mention. Aside from saving money, standard of education in these state-runned institutions is at par with  the private schools like the Malayan Colleges (former Mapua Institute of Technology). Remember that education is an investment. You can have better return after you graduated from these Universities in the country. Alumni Associations in these institutions are already well-established worldwide and you might meet many graduates in the US who are well-respected there in their fields.

Answer 5

Tagolog is not necessary for studying there.  English is the main language of instruction at that level.  However, Philippines universities are not known to be at the level of Western countries.  If you're just going to work in Philippines, it'd be more than fine, though.  Just look for the best one that teaches what you need.  And many Filipinos eventually get good work overseas after only studying in their home country so you should be fine.

Answer 6

University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City (Metro Manila); especially if you wanna take up higher courses in engineering. The medium of instruction is English. You'll have classmates who speak English; they can teach you the local language (not just Tagalog) as you go along. You can stay at the International Center, there you'll meet up with the other foreign students. There are countless student organizations you can join to help you cope with the culture. Just open your mind to the various political discourses in some forums that you may encounter since UP is quite a liberal institution.

I am not sure how disadvantageous it is if you choose to go down here because I don't know where you are schooled at the moment. I can't compare. (You being an American though, I am almost certain you will be coming in from a school that's way, way better). UP is in the top 400 universities worldwide, by the way.

Answer 7

Im goin to college in the philippines and im american! i think its more funner there cuz u can practically do WHATEVER you want and get away with it...unlike here....for schools id say the best are in Luzon...around Manila and stuff....Unless you want to go to school in like Mindanao and get kidnapped by the many terrorists there....Good luck! hope you have fun like i did when i went there for high school!