Granted fiscal autonomy, UdM aims to be a center of excellence

The Universidad de Manila (UdM) has been given fiscal autonomy by the City of Manila.

With City Ordinance 8635, and under a unanimous vote of the 11th Manila City Council, UdM will be treated as an independent institution within the city.

“UdM shall be treated as an independent and institutional department of the City of Manila wherein the management of fiscal, human resources, and all other assets shall be within its control,” the ordinance read.

It was Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso’s commitment to give UdM its fiscal autonomy at the beginning of his administration in 2019.

The ordinance was enacted on April 27, 2020 by the 11th City Council under the leadership of Vice Mayor Maria Sheilah “Honey” Lacuna-Pangan, amending the previous ordinances 7885 and 8120, which granted the original charters of UdM as a college and university, respectively.

According to UdM President and The Manila Times columnist, Ma. Lourdes “Malou” Tiquia, the university will continue to innovate.

“We will continue to innovate and be an agile organization so we can achieve our repositioning as the Education 4.0 hub of the City,” stated Tiquia.

“The fact that it was a unanimous vote is a vote for the stakeholders of UdM, it is a morale-booster for us all so we can take that hard but needed steps to make UdM a center of excellence. It will take time, but our elected leaders have given us what we need to pole-vault, after 25 years,” Tiquia said in a press statement.

Its original charter created a City College of Manila, later on amended to change the name to UdM without much restructuring from an initial six to 15 colleges in 2013.

The number of colleges has been harmonized to nine and will continue to be pared down to ensure the wise use of limited resources to cover the 31 programs recognized by the Commission on Higher Education.

But the academic plantilla, according to the statement, remains vintage 1995, consequently there are more part-time faculty than full-time faculty members. Academic and non-academic plantilla positions are at parity with non-academic positions filled at the level of administrative aides, doing critical functions because of lack of minimum qualifications for the higher positions.

“Indeed, the seeds of change have been planted and UdM will have to rise to the challenge,” Tiquia stressed.