The University of the Philippines College Admission Test (UPCAT) is suspended again for the next academic year as a precaution against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
This was the university’s statement this Tuesday amid the more contagious Omicron variant despite the continuous decline in new COVID-19 cases in the Philippines.
“For the second year in a row, the University of the Philippines (UP) will not be administering its UP College Admissions Test (UPCAT) for AY 2022-2023,” UP said in a statement.
It was based on OVPAA Memorandum No. 2021-158 issued by the UP Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs on November 18, 2021.
Some of the reasons cited are the “intense logistical challenge” of conducting UPCAT at UP campuses and 95 testing centers throughout the Philippines, while the COVID-19 pandemic is “not yet certain.”
The majority of the University Councils, which is the highest policy-making body of the banned UP constituent university (CU) in the entire UP System, are said to have voted in favor of the motion. It consists of the chancellor, professors, associate professors, and assistant professors of each CU.
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UPCAT suspended again amid threat of COVID-19
UP will again use the admissions scoring model they used in Academic Year 2021-2022.
“According to the memo: ‘In light of this decision, the Admissions Scoring Model, which the Office of Admissions’ data scientists developed’ and refined by ‘a working group of experts designated by their respective CUs’ and that ‘the University Councils overwhelmingly approved in 2020, will continue to be used with some fine-tuning in the preprocessing and transmutation of grades that enter the model,” the university said.
UP remains the only school from the Philippines to be included in the Quacquarelli Symonds top 100 Asian university rankings this year after it clinched 77th place out of all 687 universities there.
Despite this, the top state university’s rank dropped at 2022 Times Higher Education Rankings after falling in the 601-800 bracket. It was at 401-500 last year.
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