Policy and purposes of higher education
- The State must protect, foster, and promote the right of all citizens to affordable quality education at all levels.
- The State must ensure and protect academic freedom and promote its exercise for intellectual growth, advancement of learning and research, and development of responsible and effective leadership.
- The State must support education of high-level and middle-level professionals.
- The State must enrich the country’s historical and cultural heritage through higher education.
- State-supported higher education institutions must gear programs to national, regional, or local development plans.
- Institutions of higher learning must exemplify the dignity and beauty of, and pride in, intellectual and scholarly life through their physical and natural surroundings.
Creation and placement of CHED
- The Commission on Higher Education is created and is referred to as the Commission.
- The Commission is independent and separate from the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS).
- The Commission is attached to the Office of the President for administrative purposes only.
- The Commission’s coverage includes public and private institutions of higher education and degree-granting programs in all post-secondary educational institutions that are public or private.
- The Commission governs both institutions and degree-granting programs at the post-secondary level.
Commission composition and qualifications
- The Commission has five (5) full-time members.
- During the transition period beginning upon approval of the Act, the President may appoint the DECS Secretary as ex officio chairman for a maximum period of one (1) year.
- Thereafter, the President appoints a Chairman and four (4) commissioners.
- Commissioners must be holders of earned doctorate(s) and must have been actively engaged in higher education for at least ten (10) years.
- Commissioners must not have been candidates for elective positions in the elections immediately preceding their appointment.
- Commissioners must be academicians known for professionalism and integrity and must have distinguished themselves as authorities in their fields of learning.
- Commissioners must belong to different academic specializations.
- No Commissioner may appoint representatives to act on the Commissioner’s behalf.
Terms, staggered appointments, and continuance
- The President appoints the full-time chairman and commissioners for a term of four (4) years, without prejudice to one reappointment.
- Initial appointments must be staggered:
- the chairman serves four (4) years;
- the next two (2) commissioners serve three (3) years; and
- the last two (2) commissioners serve two (2) years.
- Commissioners hold office until successors are appointed and qualified.
- If a member fails to complete a term, the President appoints a successor only for the unexpired portion of the term.
Rank, emoluments, and qualifications alignment
- The chairman holds the rank of a Department Secretary.
- Commissioners hold the rank of Undersecretary.
- The chairman and commissioners receive compensation and emoluments corresponding to those of a Department Secretary and Undersecretary, respectively.
- The chairman and commissioners are subject to the same disqualifications applicable to those ranks.
Board of Advisers structure and membership
- A Board of Advisers is constituted to assist the Commission.
- The Board of Advisers must meet with the Commission at least once a year.
- The Board of Advisers aligns Commission policies and plans with cultural, political, and socioeconomic development needs and with world-class scholarship demands.
- The Board of Advisers includes:
- the Secretary of Education, Culture and Sports as chairman;
- the Director-General of the National Economic and Development Authority as co-chairman;
- the Secretary of Science and Technology;
- the Secretary of Trade and Industry;
- the Secretary of Labor and Employment;
- the President of the Federation of Accrediting Associations of the Philippines (FAAP); and
- the President of the Fund for Assistance to Private Education (FAPE).
- The President may appoint two (2) additional members of the Board of Advisers upon recommendation of the Commission.
Powers and functions of the Commission
- The Commission formulates and recommends development plans, policies, priorities, and programs on higher education and research.
- The Commission formulates and recommends development plans, policies, priorities and programs on research.
- The Commission recommends to the executive and legislative branches priorities and grants on higher education and research.
- The Commission sets minimum standards for programs and institutions of higher learning, based on recommendations of panels of experts and subject to public hearing, and the Commission enforces these minimum standards.
- The Commission monitors and evaluates performance of programs and institutions of higher learning for incentives and sanctions, including diminution or withdrawal of subsidy, recommendations on downgrading or withdrawal of accreditation, program termination, or school closure.
- The Commission identifies, supports, and develops potential centers of excellence in program areas needed for world-class scholarship, nation building, and national development.
- The Commission recommends to the Department of Budget and Management the budgets of public institutions of higher learning and general guidelines for use of their income.
- The Commission rationalizes programs and institutions of higher learning and sets standards, policies, and guidelines for creation of new ones and conversion or elevation of schools to institutions of higher learning, subject to budgetary limitations and the number of institutions of higher learning in the province or region.
- The Commission develops criteria for allocating additional resources such as research and program development grants, scholarships, and similar programs, provided that this does not detract from fiscal autonomy already enjoyed by colleges and universities.
- The Commission directs or redirects purposive research by institutions of higher learning to meet needs of agro-industrialization and development.
- The Commission devises and implements resource development schemes.
- The Commission administers the Higher Education Development Fund described in Section 10.
- The Commission reviews the charters of institutions of higher learning and state universities and colleges, including the chairmanship and membership of their governing bodies, and recommends appropriate measures for necessary action.
- The Commission promulgates rules and regulations and exercises other powers and functions necessary to carry out the Act.
- The Commission performs other functions necessary for its effective operations and enhancement, growth, or development of higher education.
Secretariat, staffing, and internal budget
- The Commission organizes a secretariat headed by an executive officer.
- The executive officer is subject to the national compensation and position classification plan.
- The Commission fixes the secretariat’s staffing pattern and determines duties, qualifications, responsibilities, and functions.
- The Commission sets the compensation scheme for created positions upon recommendation of the executive officer.
- The secretariat prepares and approves its budget.
- The Commission appoints secretariat staff upon the recommendation of the executive officer.
Higher Education Development Fund: creation and contributions
- A Higher Education Development Fund is established exclusively to strengthen higher education nationwide.
- Government contributions to the Fund are:
- P500,000,000 as seed capital;
- P50,000,000 for the initial operation of the Commission;
- 40% annual share on the total gross collections of the travel tax;
- 30% share of the collections from the Professional Registration Fee; and
- 1% of the gross sales of the lotto operation of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
- Starting Fiscal Year 1995 and every year thereafter, government financing institutions identified and requested by the Commission may contribute between 3% and 5% of their unimpaired surplus realized in the immediately preceding year.
- The Fund has a private portion raised from donations, gifts, and other conveyances including materials, equipment, properties, and services by gratuitous title.
Fund administration and portfolio management limits
- The Fund is administered by the Commission.
- The Commission appoints a reputable government financial institution as portfolio manager, subject to conditions.
- For sound management, the Commission prepares guidelines for use of the Fund subject to these conditions:
- No part of the seed capital of the Fund, including its earnings, may be used to underwrite overhead expenses for administration.
- Unless otherwise stipulated by the private donor, only earnings of private contributions may be used for administrative expenses.
- The Commission appoints and organizes a separate staff administratively and budgetarily separate from the Commission secretariat.
- The Fund must be utilized equitably according to regions and programs.
Technical panels and accreditation support
- The Commission reconstitutes and/or organizes technical panels for different disciplines/program areas.
- Technical panels assist the Commission in setting standards and in program and institution monitoring and evaluation.
- Technical panels consist of senior specialists or academicians appointed by the Commission.
- The Commission provides incentives to institutions of higher learning, public and private, whose programs are accredited or whose needs are for accreditation purposes.
Academic freedom guarantee and curricular limits
- Nothing in the Act limits the academic freedom of universities and colleges.
- No abridgment of curricular freedom by the Commission is allowed except for:
- minimum unit requirements for specific academic programs;
- general education distribu