No UPCAT for school year 2021-2022 due to COVID-19 pandemic

Facade of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. Photo by Evangeline Valderrama

MANILA, Philippines — The University of the Philippines (UP) on Tuesday announced that it will not hold its annual UP College Admission Test (UPCAT) for incoming first year students for the academic year 2021-2022 due to continuing threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The University Councils (UCs) of the eight constituent universities (CUs) of the University of the Philippines System, as the highest academic bodies of the CUs, unanimously decided that there will be no UPCAT for the intake of first year students in Academic Year 2021-2022,” the university announced in its website.

Due to COVID-19, University Councils across the UP System unanimously decided not to hold the UPCAT for admission of students in AY 2021-22. Instead, the UP Office of Admissions is currently modifying the admissions system for the next intake year.

Read: https://t.co/IukqwRTqqx pic.twitter.com/p2WK13uNT1

— University of the Philippines (@upsystem) November 10, 2020

The announcement further read that the university council of the eight constituent schools “unanimously voted NOT to administer UPCAT in light of logistical issues in the paper-and-pencil testing of about 100,000 17-year old applicants.”

“Taking into account the uncertain trajectory and uneven spread of COVID-19 in different parts of the Philippines, the majority of the university council members did not deem it feasible to administer the usual UPCAT involving around 1,600 testing personnel deployed to 94 testing centers throughout the archipelago,” the university said.

The majority of the university council members, as per the UP’s announcement, also did not consider the possibility of an online UPCAT examination as feasible, “primarily due to the length of the exam and variety of items that would require a consistently strong internet connection to download within the time allotted for examinees to answer.”

Had there been no pandemic, the admission test would have been scheduled last Oct. 10 to 11 of this year, UP said.

Instead, the UP Office of Admissions is currently modifying the admissions system for the next intake year, UP said on Twitter.

The modification of the admissions systems includes “the use of big data analytics to arrive at a UP admission score model, which the Office of Admissions together with other concerned offices, is currently developing, as well as the determination by academic units of an additional layer of screening for particular programs if deemed necessary.”

The UP said that the submission of the UPCAT application form 1 (personal data sheet) and form 2 (high school records) is still required, but such forms have been modified to account for stricter data privacy, efficiency, and the health and safety risks in the pandemic.

“While UP encourages online accomplishment and submission, it is cognizant of technological limitations and will accept manually accomplished forms,” the UP said of the submission of UPCAT forms.

The UPCAT is one of the most anticipated college exams in the country and is usually administered every third quarter of the year.

Last year’s UPCAT was administered Oct. 5 to 6, with the results released in May of this year.

EDV