Resource capabilities of agricultural colleges in Region XII, Philippines / by Teofilo C. de la Cruz.

Thesis (Ph.D. - - Agricultural Education) Unibersity of the Philippines, College, Laguna.

Includes bibliographical references.

DE LA CRUZ, TEOFILO C., University of the Philippines at Los Banos, October, 1981. Resource Capabilities of Agricultural Colleges in Region XII, Philippines. Major Professor: Dr. Martin V. Jarmin.

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 incongruence 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 The administrators of the same and the employers/ respondents. 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 employed in the analyses of 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 Agri- cultural Education (TPAE) of the Ministry of Education and ,Culture
(MEC) .

The variables that were found to have significant positive effects on quality of graduates were: production project area, cultivable area, and number of books (under physical resources) ; number of teachers with advance degrees, and number of teachers with civil service eligibilities (under human resource).

Graduate and instructor respondents’ perceptions of certain aspects of instruction, research and extension were found to be congruent, the coefficient of correlations being .557, -500 and .400, respectively, all of which were below the significance 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 ten 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’ perceptions of certain aspects of the school's administrative system were found to be not congruent, the coefficient of correlation being -595 which was above the .05 significance level. The administrators tended to give higher ratings than did the instructors in all of the given 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",

The analysis of data on the indicators of technical preparedness as perceived by the graduates themselves and of job performance as rated by the graduates’ employers/supervisors showed that the quality of graduates on the average was 3.45 weighted average score using a five-point scale, i. e. from 1 for "very poor” to 5 for "excellent".

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 can still be improved further by improving the schools’ facilities and equipment and by upgrading the qualification of the faculty.

Submitted to the University Library 07/01/1994 T-1404