Adjustments amid pandemic worsens shifting, transferring process for UP
News | Jazryl Galarosa
Adjustments made by UP due to the coronavirus pandemic worsened the shifting and transferring process for students and admitting colleges.
The limited workforce implemented following the lockdown protocols along with sudden changes in the grading system were among some of the most cited issues as students, UP colleges, and the Office of the University Registrar (OUR) struggled in completing and processing the requirements for shifting and transferring.
Adjustments mid-pandemic
Scientia conducted a survey in UP Shiftees and Transferees, a Facebook group created in 2013 dedicated to connect aspiring shiftees and transferees to the constituent units where they wish to apply, about the difficulties encountered by students in the shifting and transferring process amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most of the respondents had a difficult time in shifting or transferring as UP opted to exclude the grades for the second semester of AY 2019–2020 in the computation of the general weighted average (GWA), causing confusion at first as according to Edward Caisip, an admin of UP Shiftees and Transferees, UP colleges had a different interpretation of the Pass grades.
“During that time, it occurred to me na there’s a [sic] poor communication between colleges and the OUR. It felt like the OUR has no power whatsoever that colleges can simply enact their own policies,” Caisip said.
The University Council (UC) Committee on Student Admissions, Progress and Graduation resolved to disapprove the appeals of students to include the grades obtained for the second semester. The OUR further intervened to the UP colleges to implement the change in the grading scheme for the semester.
“The BOR approval of the UC EC (Executive Committee) resolution on non-inclusion of second sem AY 2019–2020 grades in the computation of GWA was clear,” the OUR told Scientia.
The OUR added that they experienced new challenges and struggles in processing the application of shifting or transferring of the students, citing that the late submission of requirements delayed the evaluation process.
The respondents of the survey also pointed out that with a limited workforce, documents were hard to request to the colleges as they were unresponsive in emails. With this, some had a hard time completing their requirements.
CS on shifting, transferring for AY 2020–2021
Some aspiring shiftees and transferees to the College of Science (CS) had a hard time in the process as most institutes in CS suspended accepting shiftees and transferees for AY 2020–2021.
Dr. Jose Enrico Lazaro, director of the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (NIMBB), said that NIMBB decided to suspend the policy on shiftees or transferees as academic rules have been suspended in general.
“That it is the practice in some other Institutes in CS, meaning incoming or outgoing will not land properly,” Lazaro said. NIMBB allowed shifting out, though, for students who were scheduled to go after having failing retention policies which were already applied even before the lockdown.
Lazaro added that NIMBB did not accept incoming shiftees and transferees as social distancing and remote learning affected faculty loading.
“If in the past a class of 30 students would be split to [sic] two lab classes of 15 each, in a social distancing situation they will be distributed into three classes of 10 each. This means greater faculty loading now for the same number of students then,” Lazaro stated.
Towards the next normal
As UP would proceed to remote learning for AY 2020–2021, Lazaro foresees that NIMBB will accept fewer students if the conditions of the coronavirus pandemic still persist in the future.
“Also, in a social distancing situation, we will have a problem about housing undergraduate thesis students with the numbers we will have,” Lazaro stated.
In transitioning to the next normal, Mark Topinio, a second year student who is transferring from UPLB to UP Diliman, said that the student body of UP needs to establish a connection with aspiring students, providing them with support as some may be anxious in the shifting or transferring process.
“I think the student body of UP needs to constantly hear out students who are in need, especially when they are confused about the requirements or deadlines,” Topinio said. He added that UPLB-OUR has already shifted into online and he thinks other campuses should also do the same as it is a “good move that focuses on the safety of the students”.
With this, according to the OUR, they have processed the applications of transferees from other universities on time so the admitting units could proceed with their respective admission processes. The applications of shiftees and transferees from UP units outside Diliman are processed by the admitting degree programs.
For Caisip, the UP admin should be doing their best to help shiftees and transferees be familiar with online information systems of UP.
“Remote learning is a nightmare on its own but with everyone doing their jobs, I’m quite certain that things would be much easier for our shiftees and transferees,” Caisip ended.
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