gher education institutions and programs is available HERE.
The voluntary accreditation system is modeled on the regional accreditation system practiced in the United States, although only program evaluations and not institutional evaluations are performed. Four accreditation associations, recognized by the Department of Education and organized into a federal system, encourage private institutions to raise the level of their programs above the minimal standard: the Association of Christian Schools, Colleges and Universities Accrediting Agency Incorporated (ACSCU-AAI); the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU); the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (PACUCOA); and the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities of the Philippines (AACCUP). With the exception of AACCUP the accrediting agencies collectively constitute a federation, the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP), which coordinates and certifies the activities of the individual agencies. To date, there are 221 higher education institutions with 832 programs in various stages of the accreditation process (Pijano, 2003). A voluntary accreditation system in the technical and vocational sector is currently being implemented by the Technical and Vocational Education Accrediting Agency of the Philippines (TVEAAP).
There are four levels of accreditation. As defined by CHED, Level I gives applicant status to schools that have undergone a preliminary survey and are certified by FAAP as capable of acquiring accredited status within two years. Institutions with programs accredited at Level II receive full administrative deregulation and partial curricular autonomy, including priority in funding assistance and subsidies for faculty development. Programs with Level III accredited status are granted full curricular deregulation, including the privilege to offer distance education programs. Level IV institutions are eligible for grants and subsidies from the Higher Education Development Fund and are granted full autonomy from government supervision and control. Level IV accreditation is reserved for academic programs considered to be comparable in quality to those of internationally renowned universities. To date, there is only one institution in the country whose programs have been granted Level IV status –– De La Salle University (Pijano, 2003).
The most current online list of AACUUP assessed programs is available HERE.
UNIVERSITY HIGHER EDUCATION
The structure of the tertiary system in the Philippines in terms of awards and style of programs offered at Philippine universities strongly resembles the US higher education system.
Admission Requirements: Entrance to universities and other institutions of higher education is dependent on the possession of a high school Certificate of Graduation and in some cases on the results of the National Secondary Achievement Test (NSAT), or in many colleges and universities the results of their own entrance examinations. NSAT is administered to fourth-year high school students to gauge the quality of the individual institutions they are attending, it was not designed or intended as an admission test, but has nonetheless served that purpose for some institutions. Privately administered testing programs through the Center for Educational Measurement (CEM) are also widely used by colleges for admissions purposes. The two most common ones are the College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT) and the Admission Test for Colleges and Universities (ATCU). From 1973 to 1994, the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) was used for admission to post-secondary degree programs; it was abolished and replaced by the NSAT because it was considered by many not to be discriminative enough. The Philippine Education Placement Test (PEPT) is a national examination designed to evaluate the grade level of students returning to the school system or seeking admission to college based on knowledge and skills gained through formal and non-formal