UP unveils 10 flagship programs

MANILA, Philippines — Ten flagship programs promoting inclusive admissions and expanded academic services were unveiled yesterday by the University of the Philippines (UP).

The inclusive admissions program aims to revise the admission criteria to consider economic status, geographic origins and academic merit amid criticisms that UP admissions remain skewed toward children from privileged families.

About 44 percent of successful UP applicants this year came from private schools, 29 percent from public high schools and 27 percent from public science high schools, UP president Angelo Jimenez said.

Admission of at least 50 percent of applicants from public high schools is being targeted, Jimenez noted.

He said most of the successful applicants in this year’s UP College Admission Test came from Metro Manila – the country’s richest region – and 33 percent from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

As for the expanded educational support program, UP campuses in Diliman, Manila and Los Baños will receive the least allocation. Full educational assistance will be provided to students from Mindanao, Tacloban and the Visayas, according to Jimenez.

Other flagship programs are for academic excellence, research and innovation, open distance e-learning, the opening of the Archipelagic and Ocean Virtual University, active partnerships, arts and culture, expansion of public services, quality management as well as assurance and digital transformation.