Authorizing Conduct of the National College Entrance Examination in Philippine Embassies Abroad

December 15, 1978

LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 783

WHEREAS, it is stipulated in PD 146 that students seeking admission to Philippine colleges and universities must pass the National College Entrance Examination; casia

WHEREAS, about a thousand youth in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore have signified through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, their intention of taking the National College Entrance Examination in their respective Philippine embassies abroad;

WHEREAS, it is a current observation that many of these foreign students come to the Philippines to take the aforementioned examination thereby spending a lot of money, time, and effort;

WHEREAS, sometimes these foreign students, learning later that they could not qualify for college enrollment because they failed in the NCEE, incur additional expense, time, and effort to go back to their native countries or become idle and unemployed in our country; cd

WHEREAS, dialogues have been held between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cultural Affairs Office and the Ministry of Education and Culture through the National Educational Testing Center on the feasibility of holding the NCEE in the students' respective countries;

WHEREAS, it has been deemed reasonable, pursuant to PD 146, to charge a testing fee equivalent to ten US dollars ($10) to cover the cost of the administration of the test;

WHEREAS, it would redound to economy of time, effort, and money for those students concerned, to be allowed to take the NCEE abroad;

WHEREAS, it would extend the services component of the Ministry of Education and Culture, through the National Educational Testing Center, to cater to our expanding clientele in other countries; cd

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby authorize the National Educational Testing Center of the Ministry of Education and Culture to do the following:

1. To serve the interest of our neighboring countries by administering the National College Entrance Examination abroad starting in calendar year 1979.

2. To require foreign students to secure first a notice of acceptance from the college/university where they intend to enroll. This notice of acceptance, in addition to passing the NCEE, is a requirement for granting them the proper student visa for the Philippines.

3. To collect fees at ten US dollars ($10) from each of the NCEE registrant through the Philippine Embassy located in the examination site and to authorize it to charge therefrom the expenses incident to the conduct of the NCEE abroad subject to Section 40 of PD 1177.

4. To authorize the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to disburse out of the fees collected in Item No. 3. hereof. casia

DONE in the City of Manila, this 15th day of December, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Eight.