Expat Teens And Manila Universities?

[byronc]

Hi,

I have been offered a relocation to Manila by my work.

My biggest worry is that I have tow teenage sons who are both about to go to university.

Does anyone have any experience in this?

Are the universities good?

are they muticultural in any way ?

Are they taught in english?

Does anyone else have any experience in this area?

:)

any help approciated!!

[Old55]

There are a few respected schools in Manila.

I would not exactly call Philippines a multicultural experience.

English is more or less used in university.

http://www.4icu.org/ph/

[Old55]

My wife got a BA in accounting in the early 80's from a known school in Cebu and had no problem getting a job here.

My nice is just finishing up a BA in IT from a good school in Cebu taught in English.

[JJReyes]

You might encounter difficulties with the University of the Philippines system because their tuitions and programs are subsidized by the government. The more restrictive policy on foreigners is meant to allow highly qualified Filipino students access to the best in education at a low-cost. University of the Philippines is the most prestigious national public university.

The private universities will accept almost all international students. It is probably easier to get into the more prestigious ones because they are more liberal in terms of the requirements for foreign students. Entry requirements are more competitive for Filipino students, except those who graduated from their feeder elementary and high schools. The top ones include De La Salle University and Ateneo University. Both have multiple campuses. De La Salle is Christian Brothers. Ateneo is Jesuit.

The top students from these two schools will go on to graduate schools. That includes Stanford, Wharton, Harvard, Princeton, London School of Economics, Cambridge, Oxford, etc. Of course, their students are from the wealthiest families and they can afford to pay the graduate school tuition.

Starting with Pre-Kindergarten, the medium of instruction in private schools is English. Public schools teach in the venacular language of the region at the entry level and then switch to English starting in the 3rd grade. Colleges and Universities is English. This is Philippine English. It is different just like British, American, Canadian, Australian, Indian, Jamaican and Nigerian English are different. Your children will learn Philippine English fairly quickly. The textbooks are written in Standard American English.

The top private universities are multicultural. These are the educational institutions that accept students (and corporate donations) from the executive families of multinational corporations. Again, because the Filipino students are from the wealthier families, they have international travel experience including study abroad programs.

By the way, there is no middle school in public education. It is a 10 years program. Private education is 11 years, whereas the United States and the United Kingdom it is 12 years. Your children's classmates might be younger and less mature.

Edited September 9, 2012 by JJR

[Call me bubba]

My biggest worry is that I have tow teenage sons who are both about to go to university. Does anyone have any experience in this?

May I suggest, that you contact some of local the INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

here in metro manila. sorry but i dont know all their names,

ISM,Brent, the french,British, have a school.

please try them.

Edited September 14, 2012 by Jollygoodfellow

[Ashanti]

All universities in PI are taught in english except if you go for Teachers training as the medium of instruction in schools and businesses are english. However, your sons might have problems with the Filipino english and might take a while for them to acclimatise not just the accent but how some english words are used in the Philippines.

From my failing memory of more than 20 years ago, there are only 3-5x universities in PI that have degrees that are recognise in UK. However, it only depends on the course discipline and each discipline have various requirements. They are UP-Diliman, UST- Univesity of Santo Tomas and Ateneo which are all in Manila (Luzon) area (if UK have updated their requirements I have no idea, Im sorry).

For example, if your son is going for Accountancy – the PI equivalent is usually is the 4x year degree in Commerce, major in Accounting. After he finished the degree, he needs to take the Philippines board exam to qualify for CPA – certified public accountant and get his licence to practice the trade. The equivalent for that in UK would be the ACCA – Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. But ACCA will only accept the PI qualification if you have passed the PI board exam for no more than 2x years. Otherwise, you have to take the ACCA exam before you can apply for your licence.

So, what I am trying to say, that it would be wise for your boys to contact the UK equivalent of the discipline they want to study and find out what are the requirements for degrees obtained in PI. If they want to be an accountant – there are a few public bodies ie ACCA, CIMA, ACMA, etc or if they go for nursing – to contact the NMC-UK.

Good luck!

Ashanti

[joeatmanila]

If your company pays the fees of the schools, yes there are reputable universities here in Manila with international students. Do your homework and you'll find out all that you need to know.

Education is on high level at most of the reputable universities.

Now what happens if you have graduated a filipino university and you look for a job on international level...i have no idea, but i would guess not so competitive asset as if having graduated a western world even unfamous university. On actual work skills and knowledge, i do not doubt that many of the filipino universities can be competitive.

I plan university for my son in Europe...he has European passport, a university degree from there too...the world is open.

If i was you i wouldn't do the move or would leave my teens back home to continue their studies.