A LARGE number of honor graduates does not necessarily reflect the quality of learning of the college, according to Graduate School professor Florentino Hornedo.
Since 2011, the College of Tourism and Hospitality Management (CTHM) has produced the most number of honor graduates, with the highest figurerecorded last year—166 honor graduates out of 421 members of the graduating class. This year, CTHM produced 103 honor graduates, broken down into 13 magna cum laude and 90 cum laudes.
The ratio of honor graduates to total graduates has remained at around 25 percent, meaning one of every four graduates took home a medal.
“The high number of honor graduates is suspicious considering that it is not likely that all the best brains go to CTHM,” said Hornedo, who has a doctorate in literature and teaches literature, philosophy and history courses in the Graduate School. “[High grades] could involve the grading system of the teachers.”
Hotel and Restaurant Management program head Evangeline Timbang explained that students work hard to get high grades and subjects are not offered in a “simple classroom” setup.
“We do not invent the grades,” Timbang said in an interview. “They deserve to get high grades because they worked hard for it.”
Hornedo said grades are given based on skills that require personal performance was relative. It would also be unfair to compare CTHM’s system alongside with other colleges.
“[Comparing] a surgery class in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery between restaurant management is not fair. The practice of assisting in a surgery case is not the same as the practice to be a restauranteur,” Hornedo said.
For his part, Travel and Tourism Management program head Fredeswindo Medina said most of their students were usually honor graduates from their respective high schools. CTHM requires applicants to attain a high score in the entrance examination and to pass an interview.
“[We produce quality graduates] by motivating them with the right kind of tourism education,” Medina said. “We also talk to our faculty members to guide our students properly.”
The Travel and Tourism Management program has Level III accreditation status given by the Philippine Accreditation of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation, said Medina. It was the first travel management program to obtain Level III accreditation among colleges and universities in Metro Manila. It will be applying for Center of Excellence and Level IV accreditation next academic year.
