A survey of the educational system of the Philippine islands by the Board of educational survey, created under acts 3162 and 3196 of the Philippine Legislature.

UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

665

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF STUDENTS.-Particularly should
the attention of the Board of Regents be given to Table 127 on the
geographical distribution of students. Such a chart should be of the
greatest value in assisting the Board to determine its policy with reference
to the establishment of junior colleges in different parts of the Islands.
According to the facts presented in this table students come from every
province of the Philippines, 35 coming even from distant Mindanao. In
reading the figures, there should be subtracted from the 777 ascribed to
Manila the 407 in the School of Fine Arts, the 131 in the Conservatory
of Music, and the 43 in the University High School. These students are
all below university grade and are residents of Manila. If this be done
there will remain but 302 students from Manila, not as many as from
Pangasinan, Bulacan, or Laguna. In other words, the University of
the Philippines is not a local institution but one of really island-wide
character, and efforts should be made to maintain that character.
STUDENT GUIDANCE.-To pass from the subject of the place of origin
of the student to their place of residence in Manila is natural. No
aspect of university administration is more important. Since the University exists for the students, their welfare should be a prime consideration. The students at the University in Manila come in large numbers
from distant parts of the Islands and from homes, which, in a majority
of cases, are in rural districts or small towns. Many of them are unused
to the life of a large city and need the friendliest kind of guidance in
their personal affairs. Of the 846 students enrolled in the College of
Liberal Arts at the close of the year 1924-1925, but 285 or 33A per
cent lived at homes, 280 lived in dormitories, and 195 in boarding
houses. The remainder filed no information. The University maintains no dormitories, not even for girls, and it is so much in need of
buildings for teaching purposes, that it is not likely to be able to build
dormitories in the immediate future. This is all the more reason why
the University authorities should exercise vigilance as to the dormitories
and boarding places where the students live. There are a number of
dormitories about the campus maintained either by church organizations or private parties. An inspection of them by a number of the
Commission disclosed that none was of the first class equivalent to that
of the Philippine Normal School or to those in the States. The dormitories under church organization and some of the private dormitories
were good, the remainder of the private dormitories were very unattractive. The visitor received a fairly definite impression that the University authorities exercised little supervision over these dormitories. He
could not discover that any list of accredited boarding houses had been
drawn up in which students would be permitted to live. Nor, though
one-third of the students of the College of Liberal Arts are either