THE UNIVERSITY is hiring part-time faculty members in English, accounting and information technology to fill up positions left by non-tenured faculty members as a result of the K to 12 transition.
The minimum requirements are a master’s degree and teaching experience, officials said in separate interviews.
Department of English Chairwoman Camilla Vizconde said new teachers were needed because tenured faculty members could not handle all English teaching loads.
“We decided to hire faculty members for the Department of English because there are still general English courses that are offered this school year. Some colleges also have freshmen who will still follow the same English requirements in their curriculum,” Vizconde said in an e-mail to the Varsitarian.
“Our tenured faculty members are not enough to handle all the loads. The contracts of the fixed-term [professors] have ended and some part-timers have opted to find other opportunities. This is brought about by the K to 12 transition and the changes in the general education curriculum that will be implemented in 2018,” Vizconde added.
Contracts for new English teachers however will only last for up to two semesters, she said.
“For hiring, priorities include graduate degrees, teaching experience, and availability. The interview and demonstration teaching is also considered in the hiring process. I say availability because I expect part-time faculty members only, as the contract is good for a semester or at most two semesters only,” Vizconde said.
Other colleges such as the UST-Alfredo M. Velayo College of Accountancy and the Institute of Information and Computing Sciences (IICS) are also hiring new teachers, because some faculty members have joined the corporate world.
“At least two [faculty members] filed their leave of absence because they want to try the corporate world. Siguro, they are preparing for the uncertainties of K to 12. Come Academic Year 2019-2020, there are not enough available loads for some courses. That is the time when there are no third-year students and there are no second-year students and most professional courses are in that level,” Accountancy Dean Patricia Empleo said in an interview.
The status of new hires—regular or fixed-term—depends on their qualifications and projected load of teaching units, Empleo said.
“We have projected the load of the faculty until 2021 because there will be enough load even during the transition period which is until 2021, then [applicants may be] given probationary status if they are qualified. Qualified lang sila kapag may [master’s degree in business administration]. Rule kasi ‘yun ng lahat ng [higher educational institutions],” she said.
In IICS, some faculty members were not allowed to teach by the companies they work for because of changes in their workloads, IICS Director Alex Santos said in an e-mail.
“[We need more instructors because] IICS was tasked to handle the general computer courses in some of the faculties and colleges,” Santos said.
The Department of English has eight part-time and full time teachers. IICS has interviewed applicants to fill up vacancies, while Accountancy is still searching for new professors.
Senior high
Vizconde also said some English teachers might move to the newly opened UST Senior High School next school year, aggravating the shortage.
“These teaching loads plus the research loads have kept all these teachers from going to the senior high school,” she said. Ma. Consuelo D.P. Marquez and Roy Abrahmn D.R. Narra
