Transforming the UP system: Why innovation should be a major goal

The traditional goal of most colleges and universities in the Philippines is to graduate all students and have a few of them place in the Top 10 of their national board examinations.

I suggest that we should add innovation, innovation, and innovation as another major goal of our students.

After graduation or medical residency programs, most university graduates have no way to follow up with their programs or institutions.

Upon admission to the University of the Philippines (UP) system, all freshmen should get a brochure of about 12 pages, with caricatures on top of each page and 300 to 500 words below it, about innovation mindset and how to make a five- to 10-year personal plan in their fourth year to upgrade their skills.

Extend the length of English classes from what is the traditional number of semesters to double the duration of attending these classes. Our students should be able to write well-organized essays whose ideas are all about innovation in any field of their interests.

Students should be motivated to write ideas, projects, and what they can contribute to the community once a week in a diary of about 300 to 500 words. The goal is to practice and improve effective writing. Motivate students to speak English only even outside the classroom.

In their second year, they should attend weeklong seminars on the principles of innovation and learn about Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Thomas Edison, Madame Curie, Dado Banatao (a Filipino who invented the first computer chip), Aisa Mijeno, and Stevenson Rejuso (SALt light bulb).

Experiment with a group of students to be employed part-time in a company whose specialty is in line with what they dream of doing. This should be a requirement for third- and fourth-year students as is already being done at Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts, US.

The UP system should hire new mentors on a five-year contract and base their reappointment on faculty-student evaluation and publication of research, opinions, or articles in an international or national scientific journal.

Fourth-year students should have a course on investments in the Philippine stock market, while those planning to work in the US should learn about the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and S&P 500.

Encourage a group of students from different colleges of the UP system to create a machine, gadget, or system that will boost the production of agricultural and industrial products.

A yearly contest should be held to see who can write the best short story, novel, or nonfiction book to improve teaching elementary, high school, and college students.

Students from poor families in rural areas can take online examinations for the first and second years without attending classroom lectures using Skype or the Cisco system. This will be huge financial savings for the family.

An annual contest for the best innovative ideas and projects should be done, the results of which should be shared with other universities, organizations, or government agencies.

I suggest that all graduates leave their email addresses with the office of the vice president for development or the vice president for academic affairs to follow-up on what they have done after graduation. Graduates who have contributed a new method for the improvement of society should be recognized by the UP president, with their names and contributions published in a national newspaper or featured in TV news.

Leonardo L. Leonidas, MD,

assistant clinical professor,

Tufts University School of Medicine