From quality to competitiveness: Why Philippine universities must step up

Editor’s note: This is the author’s keynote address at the MAP CEO Academy’s Training on Philippine Quality Award framework for higher-education institution presidents with industry and government leaders in October 2025.

We are here to achieve a crucial goal: fostering a performance-excellence mindset in higher education institutions (HEIs) and aligning it with national development.

I speak from a “country perspective,” with two vantage points: As former Secretary of Trade and Industry—tasked with turning human capital into national competitiveness—and as former president of the University of the Philippines System—responsible for ensuring that our country’s lone national university is an exemplar of excellence in learning, research and public service.

My thesis is simple: If we want a more prosperous, more inclusive and more competitive Philippines, then we must manage our universities with the same clarity of purpose, strategic discipline and evidence-based rigor that we expect from the country’s most competitive firms. That’s where the Philippine Quality Award (PQA) framework comes in.

Why quality in higher education is now a national competitiveness issue

Across the world, the countries that compete most effectively are those that continuously turn learning into livelihoods—and do so at scale, quickly and with fairness. For the Philippines, three factors make HEI quality a top national priority:

First, the skills-strategy gap. The global economy is shifting rapidly toward higher-value sectors, including advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, creative and digital industries, health/life sciences and green energy. But our campuses often lag in updating curricula and research to match these emerging industries, leaving our young graduates unprepared and employers underserved.
Second, the pace of technological change. Artificial intelligence (AI) is rewriting every profession. HEIs that treat AI as an optional module are setting their students up to fall behind in a labor market that is moving at warp speed.
Third, the equity imperative. We cannot talk about quality if access is limited to the privileged few. Nor should we confuse access with success—admission means little without completion and employability. HEIs must do both: Raise standards and widen the gate.

Quality higher education is not a luxury; it is a necessity.

What the PQA framework offers HEIs

The strength of PQA is that it isn’t just a compliance checklist; it’s a performance-excellence framework. The PQA offers a simple yet powerful lens. It asks institutions to look in the mirror—and then act. Seven questions guide its criteria:

Leadership: Are we mission-driven and values-led?
Strategy: Are our choices aligned with the country’s priorities and institutional strengths?
Customers: Do we understand and satisfy the needs of students, employers and society?
Measurement: Are we data-driven, not anecdote-driven?
Workforce: Are our faculty and staff trained, engaged and held accountable?
Operations: Do we deliver education, research and public service efficiently and reliably?
Results: Can we demonstrate our impact?

This is not red tape. It’s a blueprint for turning good intentions into measurable progress. Done right, it ensures that every syllabus, lab, internship and thesis supports a bigger strategy—and produces results that matter.

Six capabilities our HEIs must build

Here are six country-critical capabilities that PQA can help HEIs develop and track:

Export-enabling skills: Train for actual jobs in electronics, AI, logistics, creative industries, sustainable tourism and clean energy.
Regional learning–production networks: Let universities anchor local ecosystems where students, local government units, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and industries co-create value.
Research-to-revenue systems: Don’t let patents gather dust. Build systems that translate research into startups, products and solutions.
Digital-first pedagogy and support: Use AI to personalize learning, analyze data to guide student support and issue digital credentials.
Access with completion: Open doors, but also ensure students graduate. That means remedial programs, work-study options, flexible learning and targeted support.
Integrity in governance: Quality and corruption cannot coexist. Transparent budgeting, ethical hiring and honest assessment are foundational.

The national stakes: A country of 117 million, half under 26

Half of our population is under the age of 26. They are not just future workers—they are future leaders, innovators, voters and parents. If we fail them now, we stunt our future for generations.

Countries that invest in quality universities don’t just educate; they prosper. They produce talent that drives industries, research that creates solutions and graduates who anchor democracy and development.

Quality is also about fairness. We must uphold academic standards while removing financial, geographic and social barriers to access. That means offering bridging programs, distance learning, modular courses and recognition of prior learning—without sacrificing rigor.

If we get this right, we don’t just grow the economy—we build a more just, stable and creative nation.

Education is our greatest equalizer, our most powerful multiplier and our ultimate hope. Quality makes it real.

What government, industry and HEIs must do—together

Each sector has a role.

CHED and government agencies must embed the PQA logic into quality assurance and tie incentives to outcomes. Encourage microcredentials codeveloped with industry and tied to national skills roadmaps. Use performance data—not only inputs—to guide policy. Fund what works. Uphold academic freedom while demanding performance.

The industry must go beyond episodic corporate social responsibility to co-investment in talent pipelines, including lab upgrades, adjunct teaching by practitioners, scholarships tied to apprenticeships and faculty practicums in plants, studios, clinics and control rooms.

HEIs must commit to the PQA framework, build flexible learning systems and lead in implementing lifelong learning.

Together, we should monitor a shared set of national outcomes, measuring not just access but also impact.

Closing: a Philippine quality compact for higher education

Ultimately, the audience for our work is not the evaluators or policymakers. It’s the high school graduate in Zamboanga deciding whether to enroll in college or take a job. It’s the nurse in Ilocos improving her digital health skills. It’s the engineer in Cebu building automation startups. It’s the mother in Masbate hoping her daughter will be the first in the family to graduate from college.

They are not asking us for awards. They are asking us for results.

Let us build a culture where quality is not a performance, but a practice, where excellence is not a goal, but a habit. If we do that—quietly, consistently and together—the Philippines won’t just catch up. We will lead in the region.

We must succeed not because we have a reputation to keep, but because we have a county to serve.

The author is former president of the Management Association of the Philippines. He served as secretary of trade and industry, and president of University of the Philippines System. Feedback at map@map.org.ph and aepascual@gmail.com.