University of the Philippines System Vinzons Basement, UP Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines 1101 9818500 loc 4511

OFFICE OF THE STUDENT REGENT

December 21, 2013

REPORT OF THE STUDENT REGENT ON THE 1294TH BOR MEETING

On the Renaming of the UP Diliman CBA to the Virata School of Business Since its approval in the April 2013 Board meeting, the Office of the Student Regent has time and again raised that this issue be immediately settled because of the following reasons: (1) the continuous postponement to vote on the motion to rescind the renaming has affected all sectors of the college; and (2) the students have already presented their stand last August. The Board has not yet received any report from the committee who was responsible for the comprehensive consultation in the college. We inquired the status of the said consultation and the Board members were informed that the committee has failed to assemble itself and conduct the consultation. In the absence of the report, it was decided that the Board will wait for it until the January 2014 meeting. We made a motion that with or without the committee report, the Board has to decide and close this issue by January 2014. We express disappointment yet again as this matter continues to be delayed inside the Board. We see this delay as a scheme merely to let the issue die down. The Office urges its constituents to continue to become vigilant on this matter.

On the Proposed Shift in the Academic Calendar The proposal to shift the Universitys academic calendar for next academic year was taken up lightly during the meeting. The rationale of the proposal was synchronizing the academic calendar with other ASEAN universities in line with the goals of the ASEAN 2015. This matter is yet to be decided upon by the Board. The OSR has reviewed the said proposal and weve seen that it does not truly serve the needs of the Filipino students as it is based on a skewed logic of internationalization.

On the Proposed Reforms to the Socialized Tuition And Financial Assistance Program (STFAP) After conducting consultations with our constituents system-wide, the OSR presented its final position paper on the proposed reforms to the STFAP or the now called STS 2013. (Please see the OSRs position paper on the STFAP here: http://bit.ly/1kNCIoH) When asked if the current proposal to reform the STFAP should be approved (STS 2013), we firmly stood our ground on our position on the issue. Essentially, the motion was phrased in a way that we were just asked to choose between the current STFAP system or go with the proposed reform. We were outnumbered with seven (7) members voting for the approval of the reform and two (2) abstaining. For clarification purposes, we decided to abstain during the voting because we stand by our constituents that they are tired of the STFAP scheme which has failed to answer our problem with the high cost of UP education. We stood firm that in order to solve this problem, we call on a rollback in the UP tuition. In essence, the said vote was a big No vote to any form of STFAP scheme. In preparation for the January 2014 Board meeting, the OSR will be drafting its initial proposal to study the rollback in the UP tuition. The OSR calls on all students to continue to fight for our right to education and fight against schemes like the STFAP.

On the Proposed Amendments to the UP Code (Articles 330, 430 and 431) The Board also decided upon the approval of the proposal to amend some provisions found in the Revised University of the Philippines System Code which were found to be anti-student and anti-poor. Below is the matrix of the proposals and the Board approved final version:
Table 1. Matrix showing the existing, proposed and final approved version of the provisions. Existing Revised President Pascuals JFK Alliance Final Version (approved during the University Code Version Counterproposal meeting) Article 330 No person who has not duly matriculated may be admitted to the classes. In exceptional cases, the University Registrar may, on the recommendation of the Dean or Director concerned, authorize the admission of a All students must be duly registered before they are allowed to attend classes. A student who is unable to pay the required tuition and other fees due to financial incapacity may apply for a loan from the Student Loan Board to No qualified UP student shall be denied access to education due to financial incapacity (BOR Policy, 12 April 2013). Therefore, no student shall be denied admission to his/her required classes and prevented from fulfilling his/her class No qualified UP student shall be denied access to education due to financial incapacity (BOR Policy, 12 April 2013). All students must be duly registered before they are allowed to attend classes. A student

visitor to a class for not more than five sessions

complete the registration.

requirements on the sole basis of inability to pay matriculation fees.

who is unable to pay the required tuition and other fees due to financial incapacity may apply for a loan from the Student Loan Board to complete the registration.

Article 430 Students who are indebted to the student loan board, their sureties and parents or guardians, shall be notified that such indebtedness must be paid in full one month before the final semestral examinations begin. Students who are unable to settle their loan accounts with the Student Loan Board by the final due date shall be notified, together with their parents and/or guardians, of their past due obligations. Loans provided to students for tuition fee purposes shall be interest free. The administrative cost of the student loan shall not be charged against the student debtors/codebtors but against interest income earned from the tuition fee income. Twelve months after the loan approval date, the University shall notify concerned students and their parents/guardians regarding their financial liabilities. It shall assist them settle their obligations through available financial assistance programs/scholarships so they can continue studying in the following semesters. Students who are unable to settle their loan accounts with the Student Loan Board by the final due date shall be notified, together with their parents and/or guardians, of their past due obligations.

Article 431
If a student fails to settle his account at the time herein provided, the faculty members should either bar the delinquent student from taking the exam or, if they allow him to take the exam, to In no instance shall a student, who has unpaid loan obligations due to financial incapacity as attested to by his/her parent, guardian or professor in an appeal endorsed by the concerned Dean and approved by the In no instance shall a student, who has unpaid loan obligations due to financial incapacity as attested to by his/her parent, guardian or professor in an appeal endorsed by the concerned Dean and approved by the In no instance shall a student, who has unpaid loan obligations due to financial incapacity as attested to by his/her parent, guardian or professor in an appeal endorsed by the concerned

withhold his grades that is instead of indicating the grades, the faculty members should write a note in the remarks column has account with the student loan board. If the account is not settled by the opening of the following semester, the student may not be allowed to register.

Chancellor, be barred from registering for, and attending, his/her required classes. However, the said student shall have to settle his/her loan account in full as a condition for the release of his/her diploma, transcript of records, clearance and other academic requirements.

Chancellor, be barred from registering for, and attending, his/her required classes, nor his/her grades withheld due to non-payment of tuition and other fees. However, the said student shall have to settle his/her loan account in full as a condition for the release of his/her diploma, transcript of records, clearance and other academic requirements.

Dean and approved by the Chancellor, be barred from registering for, and attending, his/her required classes, nor his/her grades withheld due to nonpayment of tuition and other fees. However, the said student shall have to settle his/her loan account in full as a condition for the release of his/her diploma, transcript of records, clearance and other academic requirements.

Unfortunately, most of the approved amendments remain insignificant for the benefit of the students. In Article 330, the approved amended version states that student loans will answer the problems of the financially incapacitated students during registration period. In practice, we have seen that student loans and the STFAP are only short term solutions to a long term problem the high cost of UP education. Aside from this, the student loans also serve as an income generating scheme because of the 6% per annum interest. Rather than helping the students, both schemes actually burden our students. In Article 430, the lack of explicitly stating that the University will aid the students in looking for scholarships and forms of grants in aid is vulnerable and subject to the interpretation of future administrators. Although President Pascual states that the mechanism of helping students look for scholarships and grants and aids will be included in the internal rules and regulations of the succeeding article (Article 431), it is still not an assurance. In Article 431, we were able to convince the Board that the release of grades be included in the final and approved amended version. However, in essence, the April 2013 Board policy stating that no qualified UP student shall be denied access to education due to financial incapacity remains a mere lip service and an empty policy statement. With the approved amended versions of these several provisions in the UP Code, the status quo of burdening our students to pay a high cost for their education in the University remains.

On the Proposed Increase of Laboratory Fees in Chemical Engineering The following are the proposed increases for the Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, UP Diliman:
Course ChE 26 Fundamentals of Programming for Chemical Engineers ChE 182 Chemical Process Dynamics and Control ChE 124 Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics Laboratory ChE 135 Process Engineering Laboratory Laboratory Fee Increase From none to P850.00 From none to P750.00 From P500.00 to P1,000.00 From P500.00 to P850.00

Course ChE 124 Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics Laboratory ChE 135 Process Engineering Laboratory ChE 143 Chemical Engineering Research I ChE 144 Chemical Engineering Research II MS/PhD ChE MS/PhD EgyE MS/PhD EnE

Waste Disposal Fee P45.00 per course P45.00 per course P80.00 per kilo (local treatment) P300.00 (export) P80.00 per kilo (local treatment) P300.00 (export) P80.00 per kilo (local treatment) P300.00 (export) P80.00 per kilo (local treatment) P300.00 (export) P80.00 per kilo (local treatment) P300.00 (export)

During the decision making, we registered our dissenting opinion with regard to the proposed increase in the lab fees. We stand firm that any form of fee increase in the University is a manifestation and the condonement of state neglect.

For the students and the people,

KRISTA IRIS V. MELGAREJO Student Regent University of the Philippines System