Philippine E-Journals

Research Competencies of Undergraduate Faculty in a Private University in Northern Philippines

Bartman I Gacrama | Gemlee O. Baptista

Discipline: Education

 

Abstract:

Improving the research competencies of the faculty and graduate students remains one of the serious challenges to Philippine higher education institutions (HEIs). The low research productivity of an HEI may be attributed to the low research competencies of its faculty. As an initial response, we aimed to address this challenge by assessing the research competency of the full-time faculty of a private university in Northern Luzon, Philippines using a cross-sectional survey design. The results showed that the majority of the faculty have little or some knowledge in conceptualizing a research problem, designing a study, and writing academic papers. The research competencies of faculty teaching research courses did not statistically differ from those teaching non-research courses. No significant difference was also observed between tenured and probational faculty. Research competencies are independent of the number of years in teaching, and the change of employment status from probationary and permanent did not relate to an increase in research competency. The results have ramifications to the human resource management of the university in terms of developing a program for research training, encouraging the faculty to pursue doctoral studies, and building a research culture among the faculty.