Our mission: Student completion and success

For generations, Filipino families have believed in education as a way out of poverty. According to the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, nearly half (47.3 percent) of 4Ps families dream that their children will become professionals—teachers, nurses, engineers, and doctors. For many underserved families, a college degree represents hope for a better life.

Yet for many, that aspiration remains difficult to realize. While education has the power to transform lives, too many Filipinos still face barriers to accessing it or completing their studies. As a result, the very opportunity that can help break the cycle of poverty remains out of reach.

At Phinma Education, we believe businesses have a role to play in changing that. As a business driven by our mission, we aspire to help thousands of students from families who never thought college was possible earn a college degree, become licensed professionals, secure meaningful jobs, and build better futures for themselves and their families.

The government has made expanding access to higher education and helping more Filipino families have at least one college graduate a national priority. We share that commitment—but access is only the beginning. Too many students leave college not because they lack ability, but because life gets in the way. They are working, supporting their families, caring for siblings, and carrying responsibilities that make finishing college incredibly difficult.

That is why we believe the conversation must shift. Instead of asking only how to get students into college, we must also ask what it will take to help them finish.

Across our campuses—including our newest ones in Pasay, Butuan, and Roxas City—we work to remove the barriers that keep students from completing their education. Through scholarships, academic coaching, student support services, and initiatives as simple as providing free breakfasts, we strive to keep our promise to every learner: Sasamahan kita—we will walk alongside you until the finish line.

But this mission is far bigger than any one institution like ours. Student completion and success are a shared responsibility. Businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, and communities all have a role to play in ensuring that students not only enter college but also graduate ready for meaningful work.

We are grateful for partners who share this commitment.

Together with the National Police Commission (Napolcom), we are helping make college more accessible through the Napolcom–PhinmaEd Kaagapay Scholarship Program. At least 12 scholars nationwide will receive full college scholarships in any degree program across Phinma Education’s schools, while additional Hawak Kamay Scholarship slots, offering discounts, have been reserved for qualified dependents of the Philippine National Police and Napolcom personnel.

As Napolcom Commissioner Rafael Vicente Calinisan shared, “Ang morale at kapakanan ng ating mga pulis at kawani ng Napolcom ang aking pangunahing prayoridad … Maraming salamat sa Phinma at sa lahat ng ating mga katuwang sa pagiging tunay na bearers of light sa pamamagitan ng edukasyon.”

Equally important is helping students succeed after graduation. Through our partnership with Reed Elsevier Philippines, more than 100 students from Phinma University of Iloilo have completed internships, with 40 percent transitioning into full-time employment.

One of them is Roshille, the eldest daughter of a corn farmer and a housewife from Cebu, and the first in her family to graduate from college. She entered an IT program with little experience using basic workplace software. Through her determination to learn—and the opportunity to intern at Reed Elsevier Philippines—she developed the skills and confidence to succeed, earning a full-time role and later a promotion and recognition as a top employee in 2023. Today, she is an ad hoc developer, mentoring interns who were once in her shoes.

As Reed Elsevier Philippines Human Resources Director and Manila Site Lead Seset Lopez said, “Phinma students are capable, resilient, adaptable, and eager to learn. They arrive not only with knowledge, but with determination, professionalism, and a genuine willingness to grow.”

Making lives better through education is a mission that belongs to all of us. The challenge before us is not only to open the doors of opportunity, but to make sure more Filipinos can walk through them, stay the course, and succeed.

Because education changes more than individual lives—it changes families, communities, and the future of our country. As businesses, we have a responsibility to be a force for good—not only by creating economic value, but by expanding opportunity where it is needed most. That is the future we must continue working toward: a Philippines where every learner with a dream has the support to turn that dream into reality.

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Christopher “Happy” Tan is the country head of Phinma Education Philippines and a trustee of Philippine Business for Education.

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Business Matters is a project of the Makati Business Club (makatibusinessclub@mbc.com.ph).