Forestry is one of the few science degrees in the Philippines that ends in a Professional Regulation Commission licence. If you finish BS Forestry and want to sign off on forest management plans, inventories or resource assessments as a professional, you take the foresters licensure examination. That single fact shapes how the degree is built, and it is the thing most prospective students are actually trying to confirm.
Here is what the programme contains, where the rules come from, and what the licence path looks like.
The order that governs BS Forestry
The current standard is CHED Memorandum Order No. 06, series of 2019, "Policies, Standards and Guidelines for Bachelor of Science in Forestry." It was adopted under Republic Act No. 7722 (the Higher Education Act of 1994) by virtue of Commission en banc Resolution No. 088-2018 dated 6 March 2018, and it replaced the pre-K-12 standard.
Two provisions matter to you as an applicant:
- Private higher education institutions must secure authority from CHED before offering BS Forestry, and existing programmes had to shift to an outcomes-based approach under this PSG. State universities and colleges and local universities are told to adhere to the same standards.
- Schools may design their own curriculum "suited to their own contexts and missions" as long as they can show it reaches the same minimum set of programme outcomes. So the unit counts below are a floor and a template, not a guarantee that every school's checklist looks identical.
The degree name is fixed by the order: Bachelor of Science in Forestry (BSF).
What the degree actually covers
CMO 06 describes forestry as promoting "the scientific conversion and management of forests for judicious and sustainable use of forest products and services." It splits the discipline into four fields of study, and those four fields organise the whole core:
| Field of study | Core units | Representative courses |
|---|---|---|
| Forest Biological Sciences | 24 | Forest Ecology; Morphology, Taxonomy and Dendrology; Forest Wildlife and Biodiversity Conservation; Forest Genetics and Tree Improvement; Forest Health and Protection; Tree Physiology; Protected Area Management |
| Forest Resources Management | 42 | Introduction to Forestry; Forest Surveying and Engineering; Silviculture I and II; Forest Resource Economics; Watershed Management; Geo-spatial Methods in Forestry; Forestry Statistics and Measurements |
| Social Forestry and Forest Governance | 15 | Social Forestry and Community-Based Natural Resources Management; Forest Governance and Policy; Forest Laws and Regulations; Forestry Extension; Agroforestry and Sustainable Upland Development |
| Forest Products Utilization | 12 | Wood Structure and Identification; Properties and Utilization of Wood Products; Properties and Utilization of Non-Wood Products; Production Management in Forest-Based Industries |
That is a heavier field-science load than most people expect. Forest Resources Management alone is 42 units, and courses such as Forest Surveying and Engineering and Forestry Statistics and Measurements carry six laboratory hours a week against two lecture hours in CHED's sample programme of study.
The 173-unit breakdown
CMO 06's sample curriculum totals 173 units across four years:
| Component | Units |
|---|---|
| General Education | 36 |
| Core courses | 93 |
| Thesis and practicum | 18 |
| Electives | 12 |
| Physical Education | 8 |
| National Service Training Program | 6 |
| Total | 173 |
The thesis and practicum block is worth reading closely, because it is where the degree turns into work you can show an employer: Technical Report Writing (3), Problem Analysis and Research Methods (3), Thesis (6) and Practicum (6). The practicum sits in the summer term after third year in CHED's model programme of study.
Electives are 12 units, chosen from a list that includes Multiple-Use Management, Range Management, Ecotourism and Outdoor Recreation Management, Environmental Impact Assessment, International Forestry Practice, Urban Forestry and Landscaping, Restoration of Degraded Ecosystems, and Chemistry of Forest Products. Students pick four.
The model semester loads are heavy in the first two years - 23 units in each of the first three semesters - then taper to 17 units in the final semester once the thesis and electives dominate. If you are weighing this against a lighter programme, that front-loading is the practical difference.
The forester licensure examination
Forestry practice is regulated by Republic Act No. 10690, "The Forestry Profession Act", which repealed Republic Act No. 6239, the older Forestry Profession Law. RA 10690 governs the examination, registration and licensure of professional foresters, and creates the Professional Regulatory Board for Foresters under the PRC.
Who may sit. Section 14 requires: Philippine citizenship (or citizenship of a country with a reciprocity agreement on forestry practice); good moral character; a bachelor's degree in forestry, forest products engineering or agroforestry from a school, college or university recognised and duly accredited by CHED - with the qualification that a BS Forest Product Engineering or BS Agroforestry graduate needs at least seventy (70) units of core subjects in forestry and related subjects; and no conviction of an offence involving moral turpitude.
What is covered. Section 15 lists four subjects:
- Forest Ecosystem
- Forest Policy and Governance
- Forest Engineering and Utilization
- Forest Resource Management
The Board may revise, exclude or add subjects with PRC approval "to conform to technological changes brought about by trends and developments in the profession."
How it is scored. Section 16 sets the passing mark at a general or weighted average rating of seventy-five percent (75%). Under Section 17 the Board submits ratings to the PRC not later than ten days after the last day of the examination, unless extended for a valid cause.
After passing. Successful candidates take the oath of profession, then receive a certificate of registration and a professional identification card. The card is reissued every three years on payment of the prescribed fees. Failure to comply with the Continuing Professional Development requirement is a ground for suspension or revocation, as is neglecting to pay registration fees for three consecutive years.
The examination is held on dates set by the PRC in its annual master schedule resolution, so check the PRC website for the current cycle rather than relying on last year's dates. Our PRC board exam requirements guide covers the documentary side of filing, and how to get a PRC ID explains what happens after you pass.
Careers the CMO itself names
CHED lists the areas BS Forestry graduates work in, and it is a longer list than the stereotype of a government forest ranger:
- Forest management, forest resource inventory, and integrated resource management
- Watershed and river basin management
- Biodiversity conservation; protected area and ecotourism management
- Tree and agroforestry farming; upland development; range and pasture development
- Land-use planning
- Research, development and extension
- Administration, policy and governance; educational management
- Livelihood and enterprise development; business management
- Environmental impact assessment and environmental protection
- Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction management
- Forest products production and utilisation
- Plant systematics, consultancy, urban landscaping and teaching
In practice that maps onto the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and its bureaus, local government environment and natural resources offices, water districts and watershed management councils, plantation and wood-processing companies, environmental consultancies preparing impact statements, conservation NGOs, and state colleges of forestry.
CMO 06 also names the allied programmes it considers adjacent: BS Environmental Science or Management, BS Biological Science, BS Agroforestry, BS Agriculture, BS Agricultural Engineering, BS Chemical Engineering and BS Fisheries. If you are still deciding, that list is a useful map of the neighbouring degrees - our BS Fisheries guide and BS Environmental Science guide cover two of them, and the agriculturist board exam guide covers a third licensure track in the same family.
Who teaches it, and why that matters
The order sets a resource floor that is worth checking when you compare schools. A department chair must hold at least a master's degree in forestry or an allied programme, have at least three years of teaching experience and two years in research or extension work, and must be a registered professional in forestry or an allied field where applicable.
That last clause is a reasonable question to ask on a campus visit: how many of the faculty are licensed foresters, and does the school run its own forest reserve, nursery or watershed for field work? Forestry is a programme where facilities are not a nice-to-have - Forest Surveying and Engineering, Silviculture and Forest Health and Protection all assume you can get to real stands of trees.
Choosing where to study
CHED's authority to operate is the baseline: a legitimate BS Forestry programme has a permit or recognition on file. Before you enrol anywhere, confirm the programme is CHED-recognised - our guide on how to verify school legitimacy walks through the checks. Then ask three questions:
- Does the school have field facilities? A forest reserve, nursery, herbarium, wood-products laboratory and GIS laboratory are the difference between a lecture-only degree and one that produces a hireable graduate.
- What is the school's record in the licensure examination? PRC publishes performance of schools alongside results. A programme with consistently few passers is a warning.
- Where does the practicum go? A summer practicum placed with DENR, a watershed council or a plantation company is a hiring pipeline; one served on campus usually is not.
Tuition varies widely because most forestry programmes sit in state universities and colleges, where the free higher education law applies to eligible students, while a handful sit in private institutions. We do not publish a single national tuition figure for forestry because none exists that would survive contact with reality - ask the registrar of each school on your shortlist for the current assessment.
The short version
BS Forestry is a four-year, 173-unit programme prescribed by CHED Memorandum Order No. 06, series of 2019, built around four fields of study, with a 6-unit thesis and a 6-unit summer practicum. It leads to a real PRC licence under Republic Act No. 10690 - four examination subjects, a 75% general average to pass, and a professional identification card renewed every three years. If you want a science degree with a licensed profession attached and you are willing to spend a lot of the programme outdoors, it is a coherent choice. If you want the science without the fieldwork, look at the allied programmes instead.
Sources
- CHED Memorandum Order No. 06, s. 2019 - Policies, Standards and Guidelines for Bachelor of Science in Forestry (official PDF)
- Central Mindanao University - mirror of CMO 06, s. 2019 BS Forestry PSG
- Supreme Court E-Library - Republic Act No. 10690, "The Forestry Profession Act"
- Supreme Court E-Library - Republic Act No. 6239 (repealed Forestry Profession Law)
- Professional Regulation Commission - Table of Qualification and Documentary Requirements to Accompany an Application to Take a Licensure Examination
