UP Diliman students want to postpone calendar shift

MANILA, Philippines - The university student council of the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City has issued a position paper calling on the school administration to postpone the implementation of the academic calendar shift.

The paper was released following the consultation conducted on students and organizations in the campus, wherein 1,834 out of 2,728 students said that they approve the shift.

From those who approved of the shift, 1,186 said they wanted it implemented in the next school year, while the remaining 648 said they wanted the implementation deferred.

Despite the results leaning on those who wanted its immediate implementation, the student council said that they “would like to assert that the shifting of the academic calendar must be deferred.”

The position paper is expected to be forwarded to the UP Diliman University Council (UC), which is scheduled to meet this week to come up with a decision on the matter.

The UP Board of Regents (BOR) earlier approved the implementation of the calendar change in all constituent universities of UP except Diliman, which had yet to finish its consultations when the voting was done in January.

Earlier, a faculty referendum showed that 647 of the 954 regular faculty members who participated in the three-day voting are in favor of the proposed calendar shift. A total of 499 faculty members wanted its implementation this year.

The UP Diliman administration has since decided to let the UC – composed of more than 1,000 regular faculty members with the rank of assistant professor and above – decide on the matter.

Student issues

The student council, in the 15-page position paper, said concerns raised during the consultations “need proper attention from the administration before implementing a significant change in the academic calendar.”

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

Also raised were the possible schedule conflicts in board and bar exams, as well as the issue of conducting classes during the summer months.

“A lot of preparations when it comes to infrastructure must be done to guarantee that students would still be comfortable coming into class even during the months of April and May. We demand a detailed plan from the administration on how to ensure a comfortable academic environment for the students,” the council added.

Campuses release revised calendar

Meanwhile, several UP campuses covered by the BOR decision have released their respective academic calendars that adopted the shift of the school opening from June to August.

In its approved academic calendar, UP Manila 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, 2015. Classes for the short-term period, previously referred to as the summer term, will run from June 17 to July 17 next year.

UP Visayas also released on its computerized registration system 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 will end on Dec. 5.

Second semester classes will run from Jan. 26 to May 22, 2015 while the short term classes will run from June 18 to July 24 next year.

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.

Baguio, Los Baños, Mindanao, and Cebu have yet to release their respective academic calendars for the incoming school year.