Aida Morden, author and an active leader in the Philippine community in Sydney, was conferred the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) by the Faculty of Built Environment, University of New South Wales on 7th May 2010.

Her thesis entitled, “Tenant-Landlord Communicative Interaction: The Influence of Litigation in Public Housing,” researched on the effect of litigation, particularly the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal, on the relationship between housing officers and public tenants in New South Wales.

Aida’s study was made possible by a scholarship from the Faculty of the Built Environment of UNSW and Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI). Aida is the first Filipino-Australian to receive this (type of) scholarship from the University of New South Wales.

Four Philippine universities made it again to the Top 200 Asian universities list of consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. (QS) for 2010, even as this is not really a cause for celebration in a country with about 2,000 institutions of higher education.

Leading the Philippine schools is the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University, which tied Taiwan’s National Central University at the 58th spot. Ateneo rose from the 84th spot it occupied last year.

State-run University of the Philippines’ rank fell from 63 to 78, while University of Santo Tomas ranked 101st, an advance from its former 144th spot.

De la Salle University suffered the worst blow among the four Philippine universities, falling from the 76th spot to land at 106th.

In measuring quality, QS used the following criteria: Asian academic peers (30 percent), papers per faculty (15 percent), citations per paper (15 percent), student-faculty ratio (20 percent), Asian employer review (10 percent), international faculty (2.5 percent), international students (2.5 percent), inbound exchange students (2.5 percent), and outbound exchange students (2.5 percent). – (GMA News)