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More on the UP budget

The University Council of UP Diliman has deliberated on its resolution regarding Noynoy Aquino's budget cuts to state universities. Some interesting pieces of information emerged from the "academic puffball" to borrow a Harvard phrase, discussion

UP needs an allocation of at least 30 B pesos a year for at least a decade if it aims at least start catching up with top Asian universities like NUS in Singapore, Beida in China or Todai in Japan.

UP proposed an 18 B budget this year. The University will require about 18-20 B per year if it is to maintain its present standard. A significant percentage of this budget goes to the operation of the university's teaching hospital PGH. PGH is not just an ordinary teaching hospital with a few beds, it is the largest tertiary hospital in the country that services a lot of indigent patients (and trains the best physicians and surgeons!)

But UP's budget averaged only between 6 B every year and now it has been cut by 1.39 B. I don't think we can get the 13 B differential from student tuition fees or the UP Ayala-Technohub.

The SUC budget in toto is 21 B and that includes that of UP.
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Jego said…
We really need to cut the budgets of other govt agencies to keep up the UP's standards. There's no two ways about it.

We need to open up our country to foreign investors since our local investors arent cutting it. They'd rather invest in rent-seeking deals with the govt that assures their profits and burdens us with their losses. Foreign investors do this too of course: seeking guarantees from the govt before they invest (witness the ZTE deal). Aquino's solution is a good one: guarantee that contracts will remain valid even when govt legislative whim and fancy interferes, while not guaranteeing protection against losses from market dynamics. The investors should bear the risk of loss and not us, the people. Of course this needs a review of contracts in order to ensure that theyre fair for all parties.

How is accepting foreign investors -- including investors in private education -- the solution to the UP's problems? If Aquino cuts the budget of other agencies in order to maintain the UP's standards, the private investors should pick up the slack. For example, Aquino shrinks the military, the cops, and the bureaucracy, private sector jobs should be available.
12:09 PM
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