UP Maskom changes name to ‘College of Media and Communication’

STATE SCHOLARS The University of the Philippines Oblation stands tall in front of the administration building in Diliman Campus in Quezon City, where the premier state university is located.
—INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The University of the Philippines (UP) College of Mass Communication will now be named the UP College of Media and Communication (CMC), the school announced Thursday.
The move comes in the lead up to the college’s 60th founding anniversary and in a bid to “[empower] the college to engage bigger and wider communities of knowledge and practice in the service of the public good.”
It stemmed from a resolution presented to the UP Board of Regents, the university system’s governing body, which approved the name change in its meeting on Jan. 30.
UP CMC Dean Fernando Paragas told INQUIRER.net in a message that the name change is already in effect.
Article continues after this advertisementAccording to Paragas, the college prepared the following:
Article continues after this advertisement- An instruction agenda for the revision of common courses and existing programs as well as institution of new degree and non-degree programs
- A research, creative work and public service agenda on media and information literacy
- A personnel and facilities development agenda to support the new initiatives
“They are enabled by the name change. [They are] part of an overall long-term conversation in and commitment by the college. The name change provides the framework for the agenda. ‘Media and communication’ involves philosophy, programming and pedagogy,” Paragas told INQUIRER.net.
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According to a separate statement from CMC Associate Dean Maria Aurora Lolita Liwag-Lomibao last September, the idea for the name change began in 2002, with the faculty mulling the impact of Internet studies on the philosophy and pedagogy of mass communication.
The college’s faculty and staff began the process in 2023, consulted stakeholders, and formulated and approved the resolution in August 2024.
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“The field of media and communication is fast-changing, and it is only natural that the academic theorizing and interrogations that underlie it should evolve as well,” Liwag-Lomibao said in the statement.
“The name change is not only an exercise in reflexivity for the College, but also a way of looking forward and setting an agenda for the future,” she added.