15 August 2023
On August 14, the Philippine Daily Inquirer published an article entitled, “Bulacan State U welcomes first batch of med scholars” stating that Bulacan State University College of Medicine (BulSU-COM) in the College of Science at its San Rafael Campus will initially accommodate 50 students to take up medicine as the 2023-2024 school year begins with 44,000 students entering the university’s gates.
The Commission wishes to inform the public that BulSU has no CHED-approved Doctor of Medicine program and cannot accept students this 1st semester of 2023-2024. The university can accept students only after the evaluation of their facilities, faculty, curriculum and training hospital and upon approval of the CHED commission en banc.
CHED is still in the process of evaluating the application, as a fact, the institution has just been subjected to ocular inspection last June 19, 2023 and was given until July 31, 2023 to correct the noted deficiencies during the evaluation.
The institution even requested from CHEDRO-3 for an extension on the submission of its compliance documents and were given until August 11, 2023 to submit its full compliance. The submitted compliance documents will still be referred to the Technical Panel for Medicine, the advisory arm of the Commission, for their appropriate action and recommendation.
The approval and issuance of the Government Authority to operate higher education programs such as Doctor of Medicine is incumbent upon the authority of the Commission en banc, hence, HEIs shall not be allowed to admit students without prior approval and authority granted by the Commission.
(SIGNED)
J. PROSPERO E. DE VERA III, DPA
Chairman
Commission on Higher Education
Philippines