The Role of the Government in Enhancing Research Productivity of SUCs and Private HEIs in the Philippines

This paper speculated on the conjecture between the concepts research and development (R&D), R&D as public good and R&D financing. The R&D contribution from private HEIs and the optimization of R&D productivity of SUCs in the Philippines are both important components in the production of knowledge, innovation and technology and the over-all economic development of a developing country. This paper reviewed R&D funding of SUCs provided in the General Appropriations Act of fiscal years 2011 to 2014. This paper also examined the R&D productivity of SUCs through the self-reported R&D productivity provided in GAA 2014 and affiliation search in Scopus on-line database. The paper assessed and evaluated the utilization of R&D funding of SUCs, the global significance and impact of SUCs R&D output and compared it with the R&D output of selected private HEIs in Scopus. Most SUCs have poor R&D output and were not able to optimize the utilization of their R&D funding except for few outstanding universities which include University of the Philippines, Central Luzon State University and West Visayas State University. While some private HEIs even without full state funding, limited incentives and technical support from the state had considerable contribution in Scopus citation and the over-all R&D productivity of the country. The actual R&D contribution of private HEIs to elevate the local and global significance of R&D of HEIs, support the goals and objectives of NHERA-2, elevate the quality of education of HEIs and the promotion of innovation and technology in the Philippines towards economic development must be considered as a public good and should receive full support from the state. New R&D policies and funding formula and incentives for both SUCs and private HEIs have been recommended to optimize their contributions to R&D productivity of the Philippines.