The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said on Thursday it would take at least two decades before the country's higher education system would be at par with the world's best.

This will entail additional funding, in the billions of pesos, before Filipino students could experience an improvement in the system, CHED Chairman Dr. Emmanuel Angeles said.

Asked how long it would take before the country sees an improvement in its educational system, Angeles replied, “At a minimum, at least two decades. Ten to 20 years to put our educational system in proper order.”

“If we will not do something, we might even be overtaken by Cambodia,” he warned.

He said among the country's 1,781 public and private higher education institutions (HEIs) only 50 or 3 percent have good facilities. Of the 1,781 HEIs, 77 are operated by local government units, 111 are state-run universities and colleges and the remaining 1,593 are private-owned institutions.

“Development will not only be in Metro Manila but nationwide like schools in Mindanao. There are so many to improve,” Angeles said.

He said licensure exam results continue to disappoint as the percentage of passers continues to decline.

A recent examination reveals disappointing results. The Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) released on Wednesday the Architect Licensure Examinations and only 567, or 36.62 percent, passed out of the 1,548 total examinees.

“The number of flunkers in PRC-administered licensure exams exceeded even the number of passers by as much as 1.42 million or 64 percent,” he added.

The June 2009 Nursing Licensure Examinations also resulted to less than half, or only 32,617 or 41.87 percent, passing the exam taken by 77,901 examinees. CHED records showed that of the 2,225, 571 examinees in PRC-administered licensure test since 2001, only 808, 884 or 36.35 percent managed to passed the exams.

Meanwhile, Angeles also urged the government to invest in research and development. He revealed plans for a P5-billion Philippine Center for Engineering, Science and Technology (PCEST) to be erected on a 1,000-hectare land in Clark Field, Pampanga and set to start next year.

In the area of faculty development, a little over P8 billion is needed to improve the competencies of 6,000 faculty for the period of two to three years. Out of the total 125,834 HEI faculty, only 44,042 or 35 percent have Master’s degree and only 12,583 or 10 percent have Ph.D. degrees.

On scholarships grants, a budget estimate of P14 billion is needed for a period of five years for an additional 200,000 or 10 percent of the total college enrolment scholarship grants.