55 Summa Grads set UP record

A total of 55 summa cum laude graduates are set to receive their diploma from the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman on Sunday, June 30.

Assistant University Registrar Aaron Abel Mallari said the number of summa cum laude graduates from UP Diliman this year was the highest, not only in the history of the Diliman campus, but in the history of the UP System.

“2019 has the highest number of summa cum laude graduates since 1911,” Mallari told Inquirer.net, as he noted that the UP System was established in 1908.

Mallari added that the number of summa cum laude graduates this year from the Diliman campus was double the average over the last 10 years.

“From 2009 to 2018, the average number of summa cum laude [in UP Diliman] is 24. From 2009 to 2018, for example, the highest number that was recorded was in 2017 with around 36 summa cum laude,” Mallari said.

The College of Engineering has the highest number of summa cum laude graduates this year with 18, followed by the College of Science with 12, and the Virata School of Business with six.

The other summa cum laude graduates came from the following colleges:

College of Social Sciences and Philosophy—five; College of Fine Arts—four; College of Human Kinetics—three;

School of Economics—three; College of Arts and Letters—one; College of Mass Communication—one; College of Education—one, and School of Statistics—one.

This year’s class valedictorian took up Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and received a general weighted average of 1.019.

Mallari said a total of 3,981 undergraduate students would be receiving their diploma at the UP Diliman graduation rites on Sunday at the University Amphitheater.