Bienvenido F. Nebres, S.J. President, Ateneo de Manila University

1. Building Internationally Competitive Institutions and Overcoming Poverty: Can These Two Paths Converge? The UP Centennial Lecture Series UP: View from Outside Science Hall, Philippine General Hospital July 31, 2008 Bienvenido F. Nebres, S.J. President, Ateneo de Manila University

2. Congratulations on the UP Centennial My warmest congratulations to the University of the Philippines as you celebrate your centennial. The last one hundred years have truly been years of great achievement by the UP and by your alumni in so many different walks of life.

3. UP Leadership in Science & Technology Science and engineering students at the UP today are about 50% of the student body, which is a marvelous ratio in our S&T challenged culture. UP has been truly the dominant university in our country in the field of Science and Technology: national scientists, academicians, etc.

4. UP Leadership in Science & Technology Much has been done to strengthen Science and Technology in the country since the 1970s. The next frontier is linking science, engineering and industry, symbolized by the rise of the UP North Science & Technology Park. The goal is to develop S&T based industries and to be part of the Knowledge Economy.

5. Building S&T-Based Industries • We often speak of India as a model. We see the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Tata Institutes. • The IT revolution in India started because Indian scientists and engineers in the U.S. saw an opportunity in the growing software development needs of US companies. • They connected technology capability in India to markets in the U.S.

6. Businessweek: Success Factors for Silicon Valley The success of Silicon Valley owed not just to the techies, but to the seamless structure between the technology innovators, the venture capitalists and the legal and regulatory framework that distributed both profit and risk. This allowed innovators to fail and remain standing so they could try again.

7. Building S&T in the Country • There are many pieces that have to come seamlessly together if we are to achieve our goals. • Share my experience and that of many UP colleagues on earlier stages of our journey to develop Science and Technology in our country.

8. The UP-Ateneo-De La Salle PhD Consortium • In the early 1970’s, we only had two PhD’s in mathematics, myself and Dr. Favila of UP. The situation was no better in physics, a little better in Chemistry. • What started the journey was a group of Filipino scientists, who came together to do something about the state of mathematics and science PhD programs and research.

9. The UP-Ateneo-De La Salle PhD Consortium Our analysis of the situation was: • We had good B.S. programs. • The strategy of sending them all for PhD’s abroad was not working. • We thus decided to set up the local PhD programs, with a sandwich component.

10. The UP-Ateneo-De La Salle PhD Consortium First, a framework of cooperation: Dr. Melecio Magno, AVP of UP, helped us set up the UP-Ateneo-DLSU consortium. Second, funding: first, from NEDA with the support of Dr. Tito Mijares. Later, from NSDB under Dr. Melecio Magno. Third, since we had so few scientists at home, we needed international support for the high-level coursework and research.

11. Prof. Shiga: Build Friendships Professor Kawada to Professor Shiga: “You are going to the Philippines. You will be running a seminar on Complex Manifolds. You should prepare your lectures well. But your real first task is to make friends. This is going to be a long-term exchange. And a long-term exchange can only work if it is on a strong base of friendship.”

12. First Jesuits as Friends in the Lord In 2006 the Jesuits celebrated an important Jubilee, the 500th anniversary of the birth of St. Francis Xavier and Blessed Peter Faber and the 450th anniversary of the death of St. Ignatius. Ignatius, Francis and Peter met as fellow students in the University of Paris in the late 1520s, 1530s. They actually shared the same dorm or apartment. Thus 2006 was a time for us to remember that the Jesuit Order was established by a group of University friends.

13. The Engineering and Science Education Project (ESEP) • We needed better labs and equipment, better libraries, PhDs and Postdocs in a broader range of areas. We needed to move to other sciences, to engineering and to science and math in secondary education • The Engineering and Science Education Project (ESEP) was the largest scale project yet undertaken for Science and Technology education in the country.

14. Challenges to be Met • Policy debates with NEDA on ODA for higher education • Engaging national government agencies, the World Bank, a larger network of universities, high schools, and so forth.

15. Project Advisory Group • The Project Advisory Group was formed to help guide the project. • But ESEP was trailblazing new territory, beyond the experience of the DOST and PICO staff. PAG had to mediate these new experiences and territory. • The key point is that what got us far was a group of science colleagues, committed to making a difference.

16. Building Something Great When you look at the development of anything great, say the art and sculpture, the great cathedrals of the Middle Ages or the rise of the sciences in modern Europe, it came from two poles: the rise of genius (a Michaelangelo, a Bernini, or a Newton) and patrons, leaders of society, who supported and created a path for their genius.

17. Bringing Us to the Next Level • Individuals and groups who make it their task to bring us to this next level. • Including alumni and friends abroad. • UP’s distinguished alumni abroad could do what the Indians in the U.S. did many years ago and what recent Chinese migrants are doing: create opportunities abroad for the Philippines.

18. Taking the Lead in S&T-Based Industries If the UP is to take the lead in S&T based industry development, it is equally important that individuals and groups emerge who will bring the different pieces together: technology innovators, business, legal and regulatory framework, Filipinos and friends abroad who will create opportunities and markets for us.

19. Excellence & Competitiveness for What & for Whom • Excellence and International Competitiveness certainly good for UP’s alumni, faculty, students. • But UP is the national university, UP students are iskolar ng bayan. • What does this do for the bayan? • Video clip: Lupang Pangako 2003

20. Amartya Sen: To Build a Country, Build a Schoolhouse • “I am aware that when I argue that basic education for all can transform the miserable world in which we live, I sound a little like a Victorian gentlewoman delivering her favorite recipe for progress. • Extensive empirical studies have demonstrated the critical role of basic education in economic and social development.” • This dream from Amartya Sen is possible. Video clip: Lupang Pangako 2008

21. What Brought about the Transformation Our experience is that it will take the effort of all sectors of society to rise to this challenge. The DepEd is essential. Local Governments are essential. The principal and the community above all are essential. But universities can make a difference. But here lies a deep problem. As the title of my presentation indicates, it will not be easy for us to bring together our pursuit of academic competitiveness and the task of improving public education.

22. Experience with International Commission on Mathematical Instruction March 2008 • I realized that there was a serious disconnect between my own concerns and those of my scientific colleagues. I was interested in improving elementary education. They were interested in their research and international publications. • The concerns of mathematics education as a scientific discipline and the concerns of improving children’s math performance on a national scale were on divergent paths.

23. Divergent Paths • Experience so far: Paths towards international competitiveness and overcoming poverty actually diverge. • The path towards international competitiveness leads us to outstanding scientists, international recognition, gives us great prestige. • But it leaves the task of overcoming poverty untouched.

24. Focusing on Poverty • If one focuses on the task of overcoming poverty, one finds that one must engage in many things, working with local governments, organizing people. • These are not disciplinal endeavors and thus do not lend themselves to a research project, with clear methodologies. • This divide is not easy to bridge.

25. Why is Convergence so Difficult? Two ways we can use to understand the difficulty: The first is from Howard Gardner in his latest book “Five Minds for the Future”. He describes the first two minds as the Analytical Mind and the Synthetic Mind.

26. The Analytical Mind The analytical mind breaks down problems into its different components, masters one or the other of these components and creates new knowledge about them. This is the mind we focus on the most in universities, the mind that does groundbreaking research and publishes respected scholarship.

27. The Synthetic Mind The synthetic mind, on the other hand, brings knowledge from disparate disciplines and from expertise beyond the academe Bill Gates Ted Turner together to solve a particular problem or to build something new. But educating the synthetic mind is beyond any particular academic discipline. It is thus difficult to find a secure place for it in the structure of the modern university, which is discipline-based.

28. O’Malley: Different Cultures of the University First, the culture of research and analysis and creation of new knowledge, the culture coming from Plato and Aristotle, the culture of the modern research university. The second is focused on preparing good leaders for society, leaders for the common good, the humanistic culture coming from Isocrates and the schools. The goal of the first is Truth; the second, the Common Good.

29. Howard Gardner: Educating the Synthetic Mind One approach: “Educational programs directed specifically at certain individuals of promise, leaders for tomorrow. Chief executives and general managers are expected to be able to see the big picture, to think systemically about what is working, what is not working, and how goals can be more effectively achieved.” Vartan Gregorian: “We need a specialization in becoming a generalist.”

30. Priority Tasks for Leaders • Improving retention rates and academic achievement in our public elementary and high schools so every Filipino child has the opportunity to have good basic education. • Latest statistics: For every 100 pupils entering Grade 1, only 56 finish grade school and only 30 finish high school. • Achievement rates have improved for elementary school. But achievement rates for high school still below 50%.

31. Better Match between Higher Education & Jobs For technical and higher education in our country, my colleagues tell me that typically for every 100 interviewees for jobs in the BPOs, they are able to hire 6. This is just one stark example of the mismatch between higher education and the employment world. This is the second task I would give these future leaders. Improve the links between higher education and the world of agriculture, business and industry.

32. A Country can only March as Fast as its Slower Members • I have often quoted a Japanese colleague who told me that they believe that a country can march only as fast as its slower members. • Whatever pride U.P. and other leading universities in our country may take in our achievements, the Philippines will not march at our pace. • Love for our people invites us to do what we can to march to the future with them.