A TOTAL of 43,000 applicants took the UST Entrance Test (USTET) for the admission of new students in Academic Year (AY) 2023-2024, the Office for Admissions (OFAD) said.
The number exceeded the 40,000 projected applicants this year as 21,000 applicants took the fourth and final USTET on Sunday, while 300 more are set to take the exam in international testing centers this month.
The first three batches of the USTET held at the Sampaloc campus had 21,700 examinees.
OFAD Director Assoc. Prof. Imelda Dakis said major adjustments were made to resume the USTET after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“OFAD closely coordinated with the Health Service and the Facilities Management Office to ensure that the on-campus USTET will be safe not only for the examinees but for UST personnel as well,” Dakis told the Varsitarian.
Only 20 to 35 examinees were assigned per room to ensure that health protocols were observed. This is half the 40 to 45 examinees per room in the pre-pandemic USTET setup.
Health checks were conducted at the entrance of every testing building before examinees could go to their assigned rooms for the USTET.
Although vaccinated and unvaccinated applicants were allowed to take the exam, the University set a policy that suspected Covid-19 positive examinees and those exhibiting symptoms on their exam date would be isolated and brought home.
Aside from the Manila campus, the University administered the USTET at 25 provincial testing centers in Luzon, five testing centers in the Visayas, and four testing centers in Mindanao. The OFAD also opened testing centers in Doha, Qatar, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Manama, Bahrain, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
USTET results will be released in the second quarter of 2023.
Assoc. Prof. Ryan Francis Cayubit, the OFAD assistant director, told the Varsitarian that USTET would be here to stay following the successful conduct of the examinations.
“We intend to hold it again next year,” he said.
