UP-Manila starts Return Service Program

Manila, Philippines - The Manila campus of the University of the Philippines (UP) has started implementing its Return Service Program (RSP), which binds graduates of health-related courses to work in the country for up to five years. 

UP-Manila Chancellor Ramon Arcadio, who initiated the program, said 885 freshmen and lateral entrants have signed up for the program this academic year.

He said the program has been made an absolute admission requirement in select courses in the College of Medicine, College of Allied Medical Professions, College of Nursing, College of Pharmacy, College of Public Health, Doctor of Dental Medicine and in extension campuses for the School of Health Sciences in Leyte, Baler, and Koronadal.

Dr. Michael Tee, director of UP-Manila Information Office, said the program is UP-Manila’s response to the brain drain problem the country facing because of the overseas migration of nurses and doctors in the past years.

Students covered by the program are prohibited from seeking work abroad for two to five years. Applicants to the Manila campus were familiarized with the program when they took the entrance examination.

Graduates who fail to fulfill their return service contracts will be asked to pay double the cost of his tuition at the rate during the time of his entry, plus interest, as donations amounting to less than the total amount of tuition paid.  Tee said the RSP is also the university’s payback program for the subsidies it receives from the government. Tee expressed confidence that UP graduates would easily find a job in the Philippines.

“Being UP graduates, their professional competence is assured. Thus, we are optimistic that employers will not think twice in hiring them.”

To ensure compliance, the school records of RSP students will be stamped with the notice: “The graduate is under Return Service Agreement with the University; this is for employment in the Philippines only.”

The mark will be removed after the agreement has been complied with.

Tee added that through the RSP, UP-Manila is hopeful that it could “assist the national government in keeping a continuous presence of health professionals in the country, most especially in the underserved areas.”