THE COMMISSION on Higher Education (CHEd) is proposing to reduce the length of engineering programs to four years from five, as a result of having two additional years of high school under K to 12.
Faculty of Engineering Assistant Dean Nelson Pasamonte said the CHEd Technical Panel for Engineering and Technology’s proposal of shortened engineering programs was timely, as most general education subjects would be integrated to the curriculum of senior high school.
“[Pina-plano ng lahat ng technical committees na i-reduce from five years to four years ang mga iba’t ibang programs sa engineering]. Lahat ng [engineering] programs ganyan ang thrust,” Pasamonte said in an interview with the Varsitarian.
The plan is expected to take full swing by 2018, as the first batch of K to 12 graduates enters the tertiary level.
Pasamonte said the plan was being reviewed by technical committees composed of experts from the academe, industry and government regulators who will assist in the setting of standards and monitoring of institutions or programs in the different engineering disciplines. Committees are starting to draft new curricula for their respective programs, he added.
Once the technical committees agree on the proposal, a technical panel, composed of chairmen of the different technical committees, will review the plan.
The technical panel will then bring it up to CHEd’s Office of Programs and Standards Development, the office in charge of the enhancement of program quality and standards and the development of policy guidelines.
The technical committee is expected to come up with revised curricula by December this year to meet the 2018 schedule. Public hearings will be held in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.
Should the proposal to shorten the programs be junked, the last year of the University’s engineering programs will continue to be devoted to the students’ internship program, Pasamonte said. Kathryn Jedi V. Baylon
