Tag: Vol. LXXXV

THE COMMISSION on Higher Education (CHEd) sees the P1,500 installment fee among several miscellaneous fees imposed by the University this year as “quite high.”

But CHEd Chairperson Patricia Licuanan, in a chance interview at the CHEd Auditorium during the awarding of the Centers of Development and Excellence last June 4, admitted that private institutions need to raise funds to pay for expenses as they lack government subsidies being enjoyed by state universities and colleges.

“It’s always that balance. Private schools don’t get any subsidies, so how are they going to pay their teachers and buy their equipment?” she asked.

THE UNIVERSITY posted a slightly lower passing rate in the recent licensure exams for architects, with only one Thomasian in the top 10.

One hundred and fifty-two out of 206 Thomasian examinees passed the test last June 7 and 9, or a 73.79 passing rate, slightly lower than last year’s 75 percent wherein 201 out of 268 Thomasians made the cut.

Architecture Dean John Joseph Fernandez said UST’s performance this year was due to the changes in the format of questions.

“The reviews were based on previous examinations. But everything was changed. That is why many of the questions were new. Every reviewing center might have not touched [those questions] during the review,” Fernandez said in an interview with the Varsitarian.

CEBU Archbishop Jose Palma urged the UST faculty to reaffirm the “great value of academic freedom” without turning their backs on Catholic ideals during the opening of the academic year last June 3.

“In virtue of this freedom you are called to search for the truth wherever careful analysis of evidence leads you,” Palma quoted Pope Benedict XVI as saying, in his homily at the annual Misa de Apertura or the traditional Opening Mass at the Santisimo Rosario Parish.

THE FACULTY of Engineering will introduce a new specialization track for data analysts in 2015 to address growing demand from businesses.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) and IBM Corp. (IBM) are collaborating to draw up a list of subjects for “business analytics,” which is being eyed as a new profession for high school graduates.

CHEd Chairperson Patricia Licuanan said analytics could be a new “game changer,” and an opportunity for Filipinos to prosper in the field of handling and processing data.

TWO CIVIL Law freshmen and a Psychology senior will head the Varsitarian in its 85th year.

Former Special Reports editor Lorenzo Luigi Gayya was appointed editor in chief while former Witness writer Denise Pauline Purugganan is the new associate editor. Both are Journalism graduates. Joining them in the Editorial Board is former Science and Technology editor and Psychology senior Nigel Bryant Evangelista as managing editor.

Journalism senior Reden Madrid was retained as News editor, while fellow Journalism seniors Bernadette Nicolas, Carla Patricia Perez and Elora Joselle Cangco were appointed Assistant News, Sports, and Filipino editors, respectively.

THE UNIVERSITY has yet to reopen the program for Education students wanting to major in Filipino. The College of Education is not offering the Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSE)-Filipino this academic year due to lack of students.

Of 140 Education sophomores, only 15 signed up to take BSE Filipino last year, said Roberto Ampil, head of the University-wide Filipino Department. Education students are assigned to their majors in their second year. At least 20 students should be enrolled for the major in Filipino program to push through.

Education Dean Clotilde Arcangel has tasked Ampil to encourage Education freshmen to take up BSE-Filipino.

TWO THOMASIAN alumni were among four Filipinos named in Forbes Asia magazine’s 48 Heroes of Philanthropy this year.

Forbes Asia included Felino “Jun” Palafox, Jr. and Joel Cruz on the list of the Asia-Pacific region’s “most notable givers.”

Architecture graduate Palafox, founder of internationally renowned Palafox Associates, was lauded for using his firm’s services in designing low-income housing developments.

Palafox founded his firm in 1989 and has since worked for business magnates such as Eugenio Lopez, Jr. and Enrique Zobel.

Meanwhile, Cruz, manufacturer of Aficionado Perfumes and owner of Central Affirmative Company, Inc., was acknowledged for giving donations to abandoned children, the elderly, and the disabled.

THE UNIVERSITY is back in the international debating scene after getting a spot in the United Asian Debating Championship (UADC) last month.

The Thomasian Debaters’ Council (TDC) emerged as the 11th best debating team in Asia after three students from UST advanced to the octo-finals round of the tournament, held last May 22-30 at Ateneo de Manila.

More than 80 teams participated in the largest inter-varsity parliamentary tournament in Asia, but only 16 teams made it to the octo-finals in the Open Break Category after eight rounds of successive eliminations, including Team UST 1 which was represented by TDC.

LAST June 13, barely on the second week of the school year, heavy rains resulted in a flash flood, stranding more than 2,000 Thomasians on campus. It was the beginning of the very familiar UST flood season, it seems.

Less than a week later on June 17, the flood was duplicated, caused by tropical storm “Emong.”

University administrators have been more prepared this time in declaring class suspension and securing the safety of students. This year’s academic calendar has even been adjusted in anticipation of weather disturbances and class disruptiions.

MAYBE it’s just hard to accept the truth.

It may have been the first thing that came to the minds of many when Francis Tolentino, chief of the Metro Manila Development Authority, reacted to an excerpt from Dan Brown’s new novel Inferno, describing Manila as the “gates of hell” through one of the book’s characters.

According to reports, the Da Vinci Code author said that the Philippine capital was full of horror, poverty and dark depression, with supporting details include “six-hour traffic jams, suffocating pollution [and] horrifying sex trade.”

Tolentino was quick to defend the city, writing a letter to Brown to say that the region serves as the “center of Filipino spirit, faith and hope.”