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MANILA, Philippines - The number of college graduates in the Philippines grew one percent faster than the country's population over the past decade - a pace not enough to compete "against the knowledge-based economies of the Third Millennium," the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said on Thursday.
According to the agency, the total number of college graduates increased by 2.9 percent from Academic Year 2000-2001 to AY 2009-2010. This was a percent higher than the average population growth rate of 1.9 percent over the same period.
Compounding this slow increase in the number of graduates is the lack of improvement in the ratio of higher-education graduates to the 20-34 year old population.
The NSCB said this ratio stood at two percent in 2010, or hardly different from the 1.9 percent in 2000.
"These marginal improvements will not be sufficient to build our knowledge base as a nation," the agency said.
The NSCB said another "worrisome" trend is the decline in the number of Education Science and Teacher Training as well as Engineering and Technology course graduates in absolute terms and as a percentage of total number of graduates.
From 71,349 in AY 2000-2001, the number of such graduates fell to 56,209 in AY 2009-2010. The ratio of such graduates to the total number of college graduates also fell to 22 percent from 31.3 percent over the same period.
"The share of graduates of education and teacher training and engineering and technology to total higher education graduates is on the downtrend. Who will build our future?" the NSCB said.
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