COMPUTER courses in the Faculty of Engineering are finally under a separate institute, a year after college administrators lobbied for the spin off.
The Institute of Information and Computer Studies (ICS) is still led by Engineering Dean Philippina Marcelo, but officials have been named to new administrative positions, namely: Alex Santos, former assistant dean-in charge, as director; Rev. Fr. Hermel Pama, O.P., regent; and Jerralyn Padua faculty secretary.
The new institute will house three programs, namely: Information Technology, Information Systems, and Computer Science.
Each department will have its own chair, namely: Perla Cosme for Computer Science, Mia Eleazar for Information Technology, and Mylene Domingo for Information Systems.
The increasing demand for Information Technology (IT) practitioners in the industry and the growing population of freshmen prompted the spinoff.
As a department, ICS was put under the College of Science in 1999 and was transferred to Engineering in 2004.
“This school year, the structural organization is part and parcel of the long term [plan] to eventually become a college. But for this school year we’ll be spinning off as an institute,” Santos told the Varsitarian in an interview.
“Spinning off into a college is not an easy task. We have to consider the feasibility of the program in a long-term basis, the readiness of the people behind the unit and the demand for IT practitioners in the market,” Santos said.
However, there are still no plans to move ICS to another building despite an increase in the number of freshmen.
“We increased our freshmen from 15 sections last year to 20 sections [this year],” Santos said.
Courses in Game Development and Digital Animation, which will be under the helm of an Entertainment and Multimedia Computing department, have been proposed.
“These (Game Development and Digital Animation) are our proposed courses, but it doesn’t only involve ICS because we have to consider the artistic factors. We are trying to collaborate with our colleagues in the University and we need to study all factors,” he said.
A request to change the name of the Institute to the “Institute of Information and Computing Sciences” has been forwarded to Vice Rector for Academic Affairs Clarita Carillo and Secretary General Fr. Winston Cabading, O.P.
“The request is still pending but it already passed the Council of Regents. They approved [it] but I think we have to wait for the official confirmation from the Secretary General that it’s the new official name,” he said.
The Institute will have its own student council next academic year.
“We have students who also represent or occupy some key positions in the present Engineering student council. Our plan for this year is to organize and build a team of students that will represent the ICS student council intended for next school year,” Santos added.
Five ICS students occupy positions in the Engineering Student council, namely: External Vice President Kimberly Anne Leabres (Computer Science), Internal Vice President Patricia Dominguez (Information Technology), Assistant Secretary Jethro Mascareñas (Information Technology), and Publicity Team Heads Adrian Bravo (Information Technology) and Chiara Sagun (Computer Science).
A new logo will also be patched on the uniforms to distinguish ICS students from Engineering students. Arianne F. Merez
