Abstract:
Education plays a very crucial role in human development. It contributes to the
kind of human capital that a country would have. The higher education system in the
Philippines, however, has seemingly failed for the past several years to come up to the
national expectations of providing quality and accessible education and training that
would match the requirements of a developing economy. Tertiary education is an issue of concern and is an important priority in the
public agenda of Cotabato City. In recent years, there has been an exodus of students
from Cotabato City in pursuit of higher learning. This study aims to evaluate the present
condition of tertiary education in the city which includes assessing critical factors that
may have affected the quality' of educational services offered by the higher education
institutions in the city. It includes the student population, degree program offerings,
academic profile of teachers, tuition fees, school budget, the performance in the licensure
examinations, as well as the city's economic and peace and order situation. It hopes to
present significant findings that would serve as useful inputs to various stakeholders on
how to better improve the quality of tertiary education in the city particularly on its
relevance in meeting emerging development challenges.
