The management of Benguet State University is now working on the opening of its College of Medicine as groundworks on infrastructure and processing of licenses are being worked out.
BSU President Felipe Comila said in a virtual press conference for its 105th anniversary that the building and the licenses will be completed by mid-2022.
BSU will be the first state university in the Cordillera that will have a College of Medicine.
This is in time with the passage of Republic Act 11509 or the “Doktor para sa Bayan Law” signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in May 2021, which establishes a medical scholarship and return service program for deserving students in state universities and colleges.
Comila said the course will complement the ordinance passed by the provincial government of Benguet that grants scholarship to a native of the 13 municipalities who wants to take up Medicine.
“That is 13 doctors every year that will be added to Benguet alone,” he said.
Being the first in the Cordillera, Comila said the program will allow more residents to enroll despite the financial demands in taking up Medicine.
Apart from opening a new post graduate course, BSU is also addressing the increase in enrollment in some courses and is expanding outside the main campus.
Comila said two sections in the College of Nursing have been opened and courses that were available only in its main campus will soon be offered in its Bokod and Buguias campuses and the soon to open campus in Kabayan.
The College of Nursing has maintained a 100 percent passing mark since its first batch of graduates took the nursing licensure examination in 1994.
BSU has recorded an increase in enrolment in undergraduate courses by 32 percent this year compared to last year’s 6,841.
Masters degree courses recorded a 42 percent increase which is now 1,415 and doctorate courses logged a 65 percent increase. – PNA
April 19, 2024
