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PLAYING
catch-up with the rest of the world, the Department of
Science and Technology said it will spend more than
P250,000 this year for each of 400 Filipino scientists
the country aims to have by 2009.
Science
Secretary Estrella Alabastro said they already have the
P100 million that President Arroyo released from her
presidential funds for the human resource development
program of the department. The department has a
P3.3-billion budget this year.
Called
the Science and Technology Human Resource Development
(S&T HRD) Program, the total fund would hit P251 million
with the Commission on Higher Education’s P100-million
donation and the University of the Philippines College
of Engineering’s P51 million.
An
eligible scholar could expect to have funding of
P627,500 ($12,806) toward a doctoral degree. This is
still just a third of the Harvard School of Engineering
and Applied Science tuition for school year 2006-2007 of
$32,882 (P1.611 million at $1=P49). Where the scholars
will study—here or abroad—was not clear.
The
importance of graduating more Filipino scientists was
emphasized as a national security issue by Ester B.
Ogena, director of the department’s Science Education
Institute. “The program has economic and educational
implications; it is a matter of national survival.”
The DOST
scholarships would focus on these fields of
study—biotechnology, microelectronics, science,
mathematics, education, and earth and space science.
Ogena
said the country has a huge gap in relation to the
global standard for the number of research and
development personnel or scientists for every million
people.
Citing
data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (Unesco), Ogena said the
Philippines
only had 164 R&D personnel in 2003 against 380
scientists or engineers for every million people
recommended by Unesco.
That
number was a slight increase from the 157 R&D personnel
the country had by 1997, when Indonesia’s scientists and
engineers were already at 182 and Japan at 4,909 for
every million of their population.
The DOST
aims to have 250 R&D personnel for every million people
by 2010. Even outside the government, Ogena said, the
country’s numbers are appalling.
Those
with PhD units working in the private sector composed
half a percent of the total employees. College graduates
still form the majority of those working in private
industries at 56.4 percent; those with master’s degree
formed 1.4 percent. |
