(Note: On Oct. 5, 2006, a global survey of higher educational institutions — the Times Higher Education Supplement - Quacquarelli Symonds [THES-QS] World University Rankings — was released. Among thousands of universities surveyed, 4 from the Philippines made it to the top 500. These are the University of the Philippines [299th], De La Salle University [392nd], Ateneo de Manila University [484th], and the University of Santo Tomas [500th]. [The complete results are posted in QS Top Universities Website.] To enlighten the community regarding the results of the THES survey, the University President writes the following response .)
<EXTREMELY LONG WINDED LETTER/EXPLANATION EDITED OUT>
I have studied in La Salle, and I have studied in Ateneo, I have seen classes in UP (couldn’t say anything about UST though) But I can say beyond any doubt that from the three (I know about), Ateneo is undoubtedly the school with the better academic curriculum. In fact the reason why I transferred to Ateneo from La Salle was because I knew it had the better academics. All males from our clan are from La Salle, so trust me when I say the decision to transfer was purely my own. I even remember my dad saying to my teacher the reason for me transferring to Ateneo was because I was having a hard time in La Salle hahahaha - he’s obviously going to hell for that. Simply put, Ateneo has nothing to prove as far as acads go. It has the better education no matter what people may think/claim.1
The mere fact that it felt the need to explain anything is quite pathetic if you ask me.
The crux of the letter [for me] was this paragraph:
The rankings challenge us to improve our efforts in internationalization and research, but it has to be recognized that the criteria, purpose, and survey instrument (please refer to Notes below) also do not reflect certain aspects that make the Ateneo an excellent Philippine university. As mentioned above, the formation of leaders and contributing to national development is our priority; however, these priority concerns of ours are not given weight in the Times rankings.
Again, yadda yadda yadda.
If you just wanted to say that the “weights” used by the Times Rankings were irrelevant to the actual thrust of the school, you could’ve just said so. You’d be done with a single sentence.2 In fact, you needn’t have sent a letter at all -
I wouldn’t be surprised that the only reason they felt they needed to “enlighten” anyone with their side of the story was because of the fact that DLSU was almost a hundred schools ahead of them… nay, I dare say that the mere fact that DLSU was ahead of them. Must’ve been a great blow to the Eagle ego. I bet if La Salle weren’t in the picture, and the current scores stay (meaning UP still on top), there probably wouldn’t be any letter to read.
Speaking of which, how come I never received any similar letters explaining any of the past rankings? Either we didn’t make the cut, or were probably ahead of La Salle then.
This letter reeks of defensiveness.
- Of course I would make sure to separate the concept of “education” from “formation.” The latter is anyone’s guess - I myself don’t subscribe to it.
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- The letter is about 1500 words long complete with bullet points and reference notes. Talk about thorough.
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post updated on November 18, 2006 @ 07:14AM
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