PHOTO courtesy of Erwin Aguilon/INQUIRER Radio 990AM
MANILA, Philippines – A group of professors on Monday protested the proposed academic calendar shift at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, Inquirer Radio 990AM said.
Wearing their “sablay,” the university’s official academic costume, more than 10 professors held a press conference at Vinzons Hall in UP Diliman, Quezon City, to oppose plans to move UP’s academic calendar from June-March to August-May.
“The nature of opposition is both procedural and political,” the group said in a statement.
They said the faculty referendum, which started Monday, should not have pushed through since the matter has already been decided on by the UP Diliman University Council.
Diliman is the only UP campus that had decided to follow the old schedule.
PHOTO courtesy of Erwin Aguilon/INQUIRER Radio 990AM
The group said, in an earlier statement, that the calendar shift is being done not for the sake of students and faculty but to push for “market-driven global competitiveness.”
It noted that changing the academic calendar suits “mainly Western standards,” pointing out that the university had implemented a similar scheme in 1963, only to drop it two years later.
“UP education is being thoroughly denationalized to make it a more attractive commodity in the global educational marketplace. Instead of addressing social equity, democratization and improved accessibility, the UP Administration is prioritizing international student mobility,” the statement said.
The group cited an open letter to the Commission on Higher Education by Dr. Doracie Nantes who argued that the new calendar does not fit the Philippines, which is an agricultural country. The former UP professor who now teaches at the Australia National University said farming families mostly have the ability to pay tuition after the harvest season every April-May and October-November.
“How do we account for the negative implications of this change in academic calendar in relation to the availability of disposable income among farming and fishing families who like any other families in our country would like to send their young members to college so they can get better chances of being employed in less-taxing and better compensated jobs?” she asked.
Nantes and the other professors questioned the logic behind the shift, saying it will only benefit international students and those able to send their children to study abroad.
“It is putting international market competitiveness above national relevance and the broader social mission of the University,” the group said.
Among those who spoke at the press conference were Dr. Emmanuel De Dios (UP School of Economics), Dr. Eduardo Tadem (Asian Center), Dr. Victor Paz (Archaeological Studies Program), Dr. Ramon Guillermo (College of Arts and Letters), Dr. Gerry Lanuza (College of Social Science and Philosophy) and Prof. Marivic Raquiza (National Center for Public Administration and Governance).