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Resource Capabilities of Agricultural Colleges in Region XII, Philippines
Dissertation Abstract:
The study aimed to assess the resource capabilities of five agricultural colleges in Region XII, Philippines, and to determine the relationship between certain variables under physical, human, and financial resources and quality of agriculture graduates.
It further sought to determine the congruency or incongruency between graduate and instructor respondents' perceptions of certain aspects of instruction and between instructor and administrator respondents' perceptions of certain aspects of administration.
A total of 172 agriculture graduates and 58 agriculture instructors from the said colleges were randomly selected as respondents. The colleges' administrators and the employers/supervisors of the graduate respondents were included by complete enumeration.
Descriptive arithmetic, coefficient of correlations, stepwise and multiple regression analysis, and rank-correlation coefficient test were use to analyze the data.
Findings revealed that books and technical agriculture reading materials, laboratory room space, instructional facilities, and equipment were inadequate, based on the criteria for minimum standards formulated by the Technical Panel for Agricultural Education (TPAE) of the Ministry of and Education and Culture (MEC).
The variables that were found to have significant positive effects on quality of graduated were production project area, cultivable area, and number of books (under physical resources); and number of teachers with advance degrees with civil service eligibilities (under human resources).
Graduate and instructor respondents' perception of certain aspects of instruction, research, and extension were found to be congruent, the coefficient of correlations being 0.557, 0.500, and 0.400, respectively, all of which were below the significant level. However, differences on the weighted average scores for specific aspects of instruction were noted.
The instructors tended to give higher ratings in all but one of the 10 items on instruction, although these were not significant. These items included "syllabi/course outlines being followed," "teaching methods being suited to the nature of subject and students' needs," "formal and informal consultations between students and teachers being permissible," and "library reading assignments and field practicum enriching students' educational experience and intellectual growth."
Instructor and administrator respondents' perception of certain aspects of the school's administrative system were found to be in congruent, with a 0.595 coefficient of correlation which was above the 0.05 significance level. The administrative practices such as "giving opportunity to subordinates to participate in planning and decision-making," "involving unit heads concerned in the recruitment and selection of new teachers," "updating of syllabi/course outlines," "involving unit heads in the school budget preparation," "channels of communication being open within the school system," and "delegating authority to middle-level supervisors." Using a five-print scale (e.g., from 1 for "very poor" to 5 for "very excellent"), data on the indicators of techinical preparedness as perceived by the graduates themselves and of job performance as rated by graduates' employers/supervisors showed that the quality of graduates was 3.45 on the average.
While the study revealed some weaknesses of certain components of the agricultural colleges under review, specifically in terms of inadequate instructional facilities and equipment as compared to the criteria for minimum standards, the quality of graduates was still "above average." Perhaps this "above average" quality could still be improved by upgrading the colleges' facilities and equipment and raising the qualifications of the faculty.
