Repository: UIHistories Project: SWE - Proceedings of the First International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists [PAGE 301]

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Philippines during this period. Various scholarships awarded by the United Nations, Colombo Plan, NEC-ICA and other technical assistance programs were granted to about 280 Filipinos from 1948-1961 . Table 1: Engineering Students Enrolled in U.S. Universities, 1957-5* Field of Study Chemical Engineering Civil Engineering Electrical Engineering Industrial Engineering Mechanical Engineering Others Total No. Enrolled 44 27 43 5 39 14 172

As of December 31, 1961, a total of 27,030 engineers and professionals in related fields were registered in the Philippines, most of whom had passed the Board, examination for their particular field. The number of engineers and professionals in related fields registered annually between 1950 and 1960 indicate an average of about 1,600, with civil engineers and mechanical engineers heading the list. A total of 19,453 were graduated with engineering degrees from private educational institutions and 909 from the University of the Philippines over the 10-year period. It is noteworthy that graduates from the chemical engineering course increased from 46 to 243, or 10-fold in 10 years. This has been concurrent with the country's industrial development when an outgrowth of industrial plants took place. It was also observed that the number of women engineering students and graduates increased tremendously as the 1962 figures shown in Table 2 indicate. The number of chemical engineers in 1962 almost doubled the number in 1961. A survey was conducted by the Women Chemical Engineers of the Philippines (WOCHEP) on the present status of women chemical engineers. Of 2,037 registered chemical engineers, 25 percent are women; and of the 495 registered women chemical engineers, 60 percent are full-pledged members of WOCHEP. It was found that about 52 percent of these women are employed in the government; 20 percent are in private firms or industries; and 28 percent are teaching in the universities and high schools. The Women Chemical Engineers of the Philippines (WOCHEP) has had as one of its objectives the utilization of its technical woman power. As much as the Philippines is a developing country and an agricultural one, the WOCHEP has conducted a program of training its women members on specialized industrial fields where it could use the local raw materials for useful industrial products for basic human needs. An act was approved creating a Philippine Science High School designed to offer on a free scholarship basis a secondary course with special emphasis on subjects pertaining to the sciences with the objective of preparing its students for a science career. Educational television, where scientific films are shown, is promoted to bolster science consciousness. A-14