UP Diliman student council: Delay decision on 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, where 1834 out of 2728 students said that they approve the shift.

From those who approved of the shift, 1186 said they wanted it implemented in the next school year, while the remaining 648 said they wanted the implementation to be 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 expected 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 has yet to finish its consultations when the voting happened 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 referendum also showed that 281 out of the 293 instructors who participated voted for the proposed calendar, while 86 voted for the current calendar.

A total of 215 instructors voted for the proposed schedule to be implemented this year, while 67 voted for the implementation in 2015.

The UP Diliman administration has since decided to let the UC– composed of more than 1000 regular faculty members with the rank of assistant professor and above– to decide on the matter.

“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 of the student council. 

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 infrastructures 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.

The student council also noted that the student body thinks 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,” added the paper.

“While we agree to the merits of the academic calendar shift, we should not forget the real problems of the university. A shift in the calendar alone does not guarantee a quality education for all students. It entails a continuous call for higher budget on the education sector to ensure quality and access,” the council said.

Earlier, groups against the shift criticized the lack of proper consultation among stakeholders.

The Congress of Teachers and Educators for Nationalism and Democracy also said earlier that Philippine universities are not yet ready to compete with its counterparts due to “inadequate academic infrastructure and resources to carry out a fully competitive higher education institutions.”

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, 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 in Dec. 5, while the second semester classes will start on Jan. 26. It will end on May 29. Classes for the short term period, previously referred to as the summer term, will run from June 17 to July 17.

The UP Visayas administration 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, 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.

The three were among the seven units of the UP System that was covered by the earlier BOR decision that allowed the implementation on a pilot basis of the academic calendar shift.

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