All UP units set for August opening

MANILA, Philippines - The opening of classes in all University of the Philippines units will be moved from June to August starting this year.

The UP Board of Regents (BOR) approved the calendar shift in the Diliman campus yesterday even as some students and professors held a protest and barricaded the UP Executive House.

“The decision to shift the academic calendar is part of the continuing efforts of UP to develop into a regional and global university and to maximize the opportunities offered by ASEAN integration and global educational partnerships,” UP president Alfredo Pascual said in a statement.

On Twitter, BOR member Senator Pia Cayetano said the protesters did not prevent her from attending the meeting, and that “they just wanted to talk.”

The decision of the BOR – the highest policy-making body of the university – is seen as a formalization of the earlier decision of the Diliman University Council to support the implementation of the shift this year.

On Monday, 284 of 456 faculty members who attended the UC meeting voted in favor of the calendar shift. A total of 164 regular faculty members voted against the proposal, while eight abstained.

More than 100 faculty members with the rank of assistant professor and above make up the council, but the faculty manual states that only 75 members are required to obtain a quorum.

In February, the BOR also approved the pilot implementation of the shift in UP campuses in Baguio, Manila, Los Baños, Visayas, Cebu and Mindanao, as well as in the UP Open University.

UP Diliman was not covered by the BOR decision then as it had yet to finish consultations when the regents initially voted on the proposal.

The campus earlier held a faculty referendum on the issue, with the results showing that a majority of those who participated in the voting approved of the calendar change.

The minutes of yesterday’s BOR meeting, which will show the vote breakdown of the regents, have yet to be released.

It was not clear if Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Patricia Licuanan – who chairs the BOR and presided over the meeting – participated in the voting.

Student Regent Krista Melgarejo earlier told The STAR the usual practice is that the presiding officer only participates in the voting to break a tie.

CHED on Wednesday released a statement advising against the calendar change.

“CHED stands firm in its belief that the best way to internationalize or engage with the global academic community is for higher education institutions to intensify their quality assurance, capacity-building and institutional development programs,” according to the position paper signed by Licuanan.

Melgarejo, as well as groups against the shift, criticized Licuanan for allegedly failing to raise the issues in the position paper during discussions on the calendar shift of the UP BOR.

New calendar

With the approval of the UP BOR, all UP campuses – except trimestral programs offered by the UP Open University – will start classes in August.

In its approved academic calendar, the UP Manila administration said classes for the first semester this year will start on Aug. 6. The schedule covers the School of Health Sciences in Palo, Baler and Koronadal.

The first semester of UP Manila is scheduled to end on Dec. 5, while the second semester classes will start on Jan. 26 and end on May 29. Classes for the short-term period, or the summer term, will run from June 17 to July 17.

The UP Visayas administration also released on its website a copy of the approved academic calendar that will cover its campuses in Tacloban and Miag-ao, Iloilo. The start of classes for the first semester is set on Aug. 18 and end on Dec. 5.

Second semester classes will run from Jan. 26 to May 22, while the short term classes will run from June 18 to July 24.

On its website, the UP Open University announced that all of its first semester programs will start its classes on Aug. 23, while the trimestral programs will start classes on Sept. 6. The entire academic calendar has yet to be released.

The deadline of application for admission was also moved to March 29 for graduate programs with examination such as the PhD in Education and the Master of Public Management, along with the Doctor of Communication program. Application for the rest may be submitted until April 26.

Other UP units have yet to release their respective calendars.

Postpone shift

Meanwhile, the UP Diliman University Student Council on Wednesday maintained its position calling for the postponement of the implementation of the shift of the school opening in the campus.

“We tried to exhaust all feasible means to be able to hear the voice of the students on this issue. This is why we made sure to conduct both quantitative and qualitative consultations through the survey and organization consultations,” said incoming student council chairman Arjay Mercado in a statement.

“It’s unfortunate though that the position of the students was not followed. Add to this the lack of proper student consultation by the admin and information dissemination on their planned changes,” he added.

Earlier, the student council issued a position paper saying they “would like to assert that the shifting of the academic calendar must be deferred.”

“A lot of important issues were raised in the comment section of the survey forms and during the org consultations. These concerns need proper attention from the administration before implementing a significant change in the academic calendar,” read the 15-page position paper.

Among the issues raised was the effect of the calendar shift on internship programs, particularly those who need to take practicum in basic education institutions, which will retain the current calendar.

The student council also raised possible schedule conflicts in the board and Bar exams, as well as the issue of conducting classes during the summer months. It added that they were not properly informed on the matter.

“We challenge the administration to defer the decision on the shift and push for a more consultative and informative decision-making procedure,” the council said.