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THE UNIVERSITY posted a higher passing rate in the May board exams for certified public accountants, again exceeding the poor national passing rate with 70 per cent or 59 out of 84 UST examinees making the cut.

UST ranked first among schools with 51-99 examinees and improved on last year’s 48 per cent passing mark, in which 41 out of 86 examinees passed the board exam.

Nationwide, 1,406 out of 4,654 examinees or 30.21 per cent passed, better than last year’s passing rate of 23.56 per cent (1,253 out of 5,318).

A EUROPEAN agency is ready to finance the construction of the UST General Santos satellite campus once it receives a master plan from the University, UST Rector Fr. Ernesto Arceo, O.P. has bared.

Arceo did not disclose the name of the funding institution, but said an alumnus, Architect George Ramos, made the recommendation. Ramos found the plans for the General Santos campus “impressive,” the Rector said.

“Ramos was encouraged to recommend UST to the agency when he saw the construction of UST in Sta. Rosa, Laguna taking place,” Arceo told the Varsitarian.

Arceo said that the University must first submit a long-term master plan for the General Santos campus before the agency releases funds.

“As of now, UST Gen-San is at the planning stage. We have to inform the agency about our specific plans for the next 10 to 15 years before it can provide the necessary funding,” he said.

ON ITS 80th year, the Varsitarian’s pearl batch displays an array of the best student writers from eight colleges and faculties in the University.

Andrew Isiah Bonifacio of the College of Nursing and Anthony Andrew Divinagracia, a Political Science student from the Faculty of Arts and Letters make up this publication year’s editorial board with Artlets professor Joselito Zulueta, also an editor and editorialist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and chair of the National Committee on Literary Arts of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, as the publications adviser.

Bonifacio previously handled the Circle section as acting editor while Divinagracia was last year’s acting assistant sports editor.

On the other hand, Nursing seniors Raychel Ria Agramon, Myla Jasmine Bantog, and Celina Ann Tobias were appointed acting Features editor, Literary editor, and Science and Technology editor, respectively.

A THOMASIAN doctor based in the United States has bagged the Outstanding Community Faculty Award of the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.

Andrew Prieto, 42, took up biology as his pre-medical course in UST before proceeding to the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, where he graduated in 1991. He completed his internship in UST and had undergone six months of internal medicine residency at the Makati Medical Center.

In 1994, he went to Michigan to broaden his internal medicine residency, undergoing sub-specialty fellowship trainings in cardiology and interventional cardiology in the state university.

After completing his residency and fellowship trainings in 2001, Prieto decided to stay in Michigan for good. He has been teaching medical students, internal medicine residents, and cardiology fellows as an assistant professor at the Michigan State University’s Cardiology Division for the past six years.

FR. TAMERLANE LANA, O.P., the new rector of the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Intramuros, plans to expand the school’s graduate program, promote a research culture, and boost enrollment in the 387-year-old Dominican college, eventually elevating UST’s sister institution to university status.

But for now, the former UST rector said his priority is to improve Letran’s sagging enrol lment, particularly in elementary and high school, calling it a “fight for survival.”

With more students, Lana also intends to solve Letran’s financial woes brought about by the newly established Letran campus in Abucay, Bataan.

FROM heel to hero.

This describes the change in the public’s perception of UST which was cast as a spoilsport when it demanded a retake of the fraud-marred 2006 Nursing board exam whose first anniversary was marked this June.

Critics called UST arrogant, arguing UST wanted a retake since it registered a “mere” 83 per cent in the exam, compared with its previous averages of 90 per cent above.

But UST was vindicated when the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) said passers of the exams should retake it or else they could not get a permit from the California-based agency to work in the US.

After much hedging, the government ordered a retake of two tests where the leaks allegedly occurred.

College of Nursing associate professor Inocencia Tionko said that the issue was honesty and truth. She added there should be no condoning of cheating.

SIDE-TRACKING calls on Pope Benedict XVI to decline the invitation of President Macapagal-Arroyo for him to visit the country, UST Rector Ernesto Arceo, O.P., said the Pope should come to the Philippines.

In an interview with the Varsitarian last June 19, Arceo said that whatever the country’s political situation, the visit by the Pope would still be good for the Filipinos because it would “rekindle their faith” and might even inspire politicians to do their job morally.

IS THE dispute surrounding the spinoff of the UST Hospital into a separate corporation and the construction of a 17-story hospital tower finally coming to an end?

US-based Medicine alumni have come out in support of the hospital’s bid to emerge out of financial ruin, answering various allegations fed by the opponents of the expansion project to a few newspaper columnists.

In a statement published in the Philippine Star last June 15, Stella Evangelista, director of the UST Medical Alumni Association of America, defended UST’s decision to create a separate corporation out of the hospital. The P3-billion hospital tower expansion will push through, she clarified.

Contrary to allegations by Star columnist Federico D. Pascual in Postcript last June 3 and BusinessMirror columnist Lito Gagni in Market Files last March, Evangelista said Dominican priests on the hospital board did not use their personal money to put up the corporation.

UST is experiencing a dramatic increase in enrolment despite the overall slump of private education in the Philippines, in a development seen by University officials as a sign of increased public confidence in the quality of education offered by the oldest university in Asia.

Data released by the University Admissions Office showed that 12,000 freshmen were accepted this school year from more than 40,000 applicants nationwide, about two-thirds more than 7,302 freshmen enrollees last academic year.

UST Rector Fr. Ernesto Arceo O.P., in his message to the Thomasian community at the school opening Mass last June 12, said that all other schools in the University Belt Consortium—except the University of the East (UE)—experienced a decrease in enrollees.

“It takes only the correct vision to see how blessed we are,” Arceo said following the Mass of the Holy Spirit which marked the opening of academic year 2007-2008.

ON THE brink of glory.

Flaunting a little of everything in its retooled artillery, the Faculty of Arts and Letters (Artlets) is slowly making its championship intentions clear in the 2007 Thomasian Goodwill Games basketball wars.

The AB team capped the month-long eliminations with a flawless 7-0 slate, following a 96-78 drubbing of the Ecclesiastical Faculties last December 13 at the Engineering Sports Complex.

Banking on the prolific three-point sniping of shooting guard Ed De la Torre, Artlets underscored its reputation as the fiercest offensive machineries in the tournament, whipping their opponents by an average margin of 19 points an outing.

“We are excited going to the finals, the competition is much more intense compared to previous games,” Artlet guard Rainier Santos told the Varsitarian.