THE FACULTY of Arts and Letters (AB) and the College of Education will offer this school year a double-degree course in Social Science, according to AB Dean Armando de Jesus.
AB-BSE Social Science will include professional subjects for education while covering all areas of the social sciences such as political science, sociology, history, and economics. The course will last eight semesters and two summer courses covering 18 units.
According to De Jesus, the course will respond to the needs of teachers who seek specialization in the social sciences. “With globalization, the trend is towards multi-disciplinarity. Merong value added sa isang graduate na puwedeng magpalipat-lipat sa ibang field,” he said.
Students may enroll either in AB or Education. However, they will hop from one college to the other to take their subjects.
The neophyte program has shown encouraging signs of acceptance as of 48 freshmen students have already enrolled.
The introduction is just the start the start of a wide-ranging curricular innovations that AB is pioneering.
De Jesus said he envisions more changes in AB’s curriculum in the coming years. He explained the Legal Management course may soon be transferred to the College of Commerce and he also envisioned the Economics program of Commerce to be solely Artlets’, which also offers an Economics program.
“Yung Economics (ng Faculty of Arts and Letters is focused on) macro at ‘yung Business Economics sa (Commerce) is micro. Would it not be better to have both?” he said.
Next year, De Jesus said he hopes to add AB-BSE Literature and AB-BSE History in the college‘s roster of majors.
In the UST Graduate School, a Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing will be offered to students interested in sharpening their craft in drama, fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
In an interview with the Varsitarian, Center for Creative Writing and Studies director Dr. Ophelia Dimalanta said that the degree’s addition in the list of courses was the consensus of the associates of the Center and Graduate School.
This semester, however, only fiction, drama, and poetry will be offered.
Among the faculty are distinguished writers like poet Cirilo Bautista, playwright Jose Victor Torres, and National Artist Francisco Sionil Jose.
“There’s going to be a linkage between the Graduate School and the Center and we can supply the faculty members because we have connections with the literary world,” she said.
Those with a Bachelor’s Degree in Literature, English, Communication Arts, Journalism or any related field may apply.
Interested students must submit a Writing Project Proposal and samples of previous writings.
Supplementary subjects, such as Principle of Literary Criticism, Contemporary Literary Theory and Literary Research will also be offered.
