Tag: August 22, 2015

THE CARPARK feud is finally over.

The University and Selegna Holdings Corp., the private operator of the multi-deck parking building inside the campus, have settled a six-year legal dispute involving their build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract and commercial leases.

Documents obtained by the Varsitarian indicated that UST and Selegna signed an Omnibus Compromise Agreement on March 9, 2015. This development was disclosed by the University in its annual financial report submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last April.

UST told the SEC that all parties were in the process of completing the “required attachments” to the compromise agreement.

THE UNIVERSITY dominated the July 2015 licensure examinations for psychometricians and pharmacy, with Thomasians emerging as topnotchers.

UST was named the top-performing school in the licensure examination for psychometricians, with 11 Thomasians landing in the top 10, including first place.

UST registered an 89.25-percent passing rate with 166 passers out of 186 examinees, results from the Professional Regulation Commission showed. This was higher than the University’s 81.91-percent passing rate in the first psychometrics exams last year, wherein 163 passed out of 199 examinees.

Leading the new batch of registered psychometricians is Van Alistair Faeldon who scored 84.20 percent.

INTERNATIONAL students may make up for the lack of freshmen during the K to 12 transition period, but a University official said that would not happen unless UST offers “more attractive” courses.

Lilian Sison, director of the Office of International Relations and Programs, said drawing international students would require revising the curriculum to make it more appealing to the international community.

“We are now moving into a K to 12 program so we need to revise our curriculum to make it comparable with our neighboring countries. We also need to offer more attractive courses and not just the generic ones,” Sison said in an interview.

IN A BID to boost its international image, the University is asking all offices to use the Quacquerelli-Symonds or “QS Stars” badge and Philippine Quality Award (PQA) logo in all official documents.

Quality Management Office (QMO) Director Joehanna Ngo said the use of the logos as marketing and promotional tools was an entitlement because they were earned by the University.

“[The QS Stars] are symbols [that mean] we are of quality in the international arena ... For the [PQA], this is the highest quality award body in the Philippines likened to the Malcolm Baldridge [National Quality Award] of America,” Ngo told the Varsitarian.

THE UNIVERSITY has revised its vision and mission statement, resolving to become the foremost Catholic university in Asia.

In a memorandum released last July 24, the Office of the Secretary General said the revisions to the UST vision-mission statement would be effective at the start of the new academic year.

The revised mission statement reads: “The University, in pursuit of truth, guided by reason and illuminated by faith, dedicates herself to the generation, advancement, and transmission of knowledge to form competent and compassionate professionals, committed to the service of the Church, the nation, and the global community.”

It retained the three core Thomasian values: competence, compassion, and commitment.

ANG TUNAY na misyon ng mga Tomasino ay maging tulad ni Kristo Hesus upang baguhin ang lipunan.

Ito ang mensahe ng pangulo ng Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Arsobispo Socrates Villegas, sa mga Tomasino sa taunang Misa de Apertura noong ika-3 ng Agosto sa simbahan ng Santisimo Rosario.

“The product of UST should be another Christ, and should engage in social transformation,” aniya sa pambungad na Misa sa pagbubukas ng bagong taong akademiko. “The product of UST must be saints.”

Ayon kay Villegas, ang UST bilang Katolikong Pamantasan ng Pilipinas ay hindi dapat dumagdag sa mga problema ng lipunan patungkol sa korupsiyon, kasinungalingan, kapabayaan at kasamaan.

IN ANTICIPATION of the 2016 national elections, the UST Central Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to launch an extensive voters’ education program in the University.

The AKTIBOTO (Aktibong Boto ng Filipino) Election Hero Training Program (EHTP), which aims to be “a catalyst for meaningful social change through responsible voting,” will train young community leaders in conducting a five-hour community voters’ education program.

Comelec Vice Chairperson Raymond Naguit said the University initially wanted to focus on Thomasians, but decided to open the program to outsiders.

YOU DO not mess with Thomasians.

The UST community has proven that no one, not even the highest political authority, could intimidate it.

Just last July 27, President Aquino III delivered his last State of the Nation Address which was dubbed by his critics as unsubstantial and a mere collection of rants.

In his address, Aquino blamed the “big university” that had allegedly rejected the plan of the Department of Public Works and Highways to convert its Open Field, a major venue of key historical and cultural events of the nation, and was declared by government itself as a National Cultural Treasure, into a flood catch basin.

SOMETIMES the future changes quickly and completely, and we are left with only the choice of what to do next.

Towards the end of the 10th season of the hit US TV medical drama series Grey’s Anatomy, Dr. Cristina Yang had to make an important decision that would dictate how her life would turn out in the future—to stay in a job that had provided her stability or to leave it so she could challenge herself to grow as a person.

Much like Yang, portrayed as a go-getter cardiothoracic surgeon who had a zeal for success and a hunger to be the best, I, too, have entertained such question in my mind several times in the past—should I stay in the publication and finish my term or should I quit before my term ends?

IT IS quite interesting that people have a tendency to associate endings with farewells. When someone dies or leaves a familiar place, people simply cannot let go without bidding farewell.

The annual Baccalaureate Mass ends with graduates passing through the Arch of the Centuries to signify farewell.

When I was a freshman, I did not understand why graduates cried during the Baccalaureate Mass. I was never a fan of farewells, it seems.

It was only when I finally joined the more than 8,000 graduates during the Baccalaureate Mass this year that I fully understood the importance of formally saying goodbye.

Goodbyes give one a sense of fulfillment. Goodbyes give recognition to the ones we are leaving behind.