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In an open letter to university officials dated June 17, 2022, 38 students from the Materials Engineering and Metallurgical Engineering programs are seeking the reconsideration and “approval of [their] appeal regarding the waiving of elective prerequisites needed for graduation” which would allow their electives taken to be credited and for them to graduate this semester.

According to the open letter, their appeal was denied on June 17 and they are being forced to take supposed prerequisite/corequisite subjects not prescribed in the 2018 curriculum. They are currently urging university officials “to reconsider [their] appeal and expedite the process of its approval” which they say will resolve the problems that have arisen.

READ: https://tinyurl.com/MatEMetEAppeal

Consequently, due to the decision on their appeal, their graduation for this semester is deemed ineligible and they are possibly delayed by a full semester to complete the said subjects.

Issues with the curriculum

Only informed last May 4, the batch says that there are issues with the lack of prerequisite and/or corequisite courses for their Material Engineering (MatE) electives, namely MatE 11, MatE 131, MatE 151, MatE 183, and MatE 197. The requisites “were not prescribed in the new four-year curriculum” and they were urged to waive their non-registration of these courses. 

In academic years 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22, majority of the members of the graduating batch have taken these elective subjects. In support, according to the 2018 and 2019 Materials Engineering curriculum, the aforementioned subjects are listed as “credited elective subjects” without any required prerequisite/corequisite courses. 

In the letter, the students said that they were “simply following” the curriculum as advised and approved by the [Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering] program coordinators. However, this semester, DMMME now claims that there are prerequisite/ corequisite courses that were not yet taken by those who enlisted the said MatE electives.

“Ngayon, nafaflag yung electives na tinake namin and they want us to either take the prerequisite subject or enroll in another elective.” a concerned student shared with us. “In short, the problem daw is the lack of prerequisites and corequisites but this doesn’t make sense since [they are] not part of our 4-year curriculum,” they added.

Issues with the Department

Aside from taking the supposed prerequisite/corequisite courses, the DMMME proposed taking different elective classes. However, the students criticized this as “unnecessary and frustrating” because it is not practical and the Midyear classes are in conflict with their post-graduation plans.

They added that the proposal was only made to them yesterday, June 17, three days before the start of Midyear classes. For Midyear, only two classes of Special Topics (MatE 197) with 30 slots are offered and five other MatE subjects which will not resolve their academic issue.

According to one student, the number of Midyear classes to be taken depends on an individual basis. Some are not required because their electives are said to be credited, although only verbal. Others are required to take one to two classes to replace the flagged electives.

In relation, they slammed the “lack of foundation for flagging electives” since they were frustrated by the arbitrary approval of electives taken during AY 2020-21 but not those in AY 2021-22. Concerns regarding inequality and selectiveness were raised and that students who have chosen to enlist in classes that are interesting and available to them are being punished.

In addition, the graduating batch asserted in their letter that “the issue is not with us lacking the competencies but with the [Committee on Student Admission, Progress, and Graduation] not recognizing that these have already been taught.” 

They argued that subjects they have already taken, like the MatE 20 series and ES 101, already covered topics that are in prerequisite/corequisite classes that DMMME want them to take. 

They also slammed the lack of certainty and transparency in communicating with the DMMME and the CSAPG since they were only able to get verbal updates from their professors.

SINAG has already requested comments from the DMMME via email today but we are yet to receive their reply. We will update this article once they respond to our questions.

Issues with their future

The graduating students emphasized the grave consequences of the possibility of getting delayed by a semester if they will not be allowed to graduate this semester. 

“In fact, our efforts over the 4 years of trying to stay on track and graduate on time were probably all in vain,” Wynona Magnaye, a concerned graduating student, shared. 

Issues regarding the upcoming Metallurgical Engineering Board Exams in October, graduation with honors, scholarship with the Department of Science and Technology, plans of taking a Master’s degree, and a delayed career in their internships and employment in the Philippines and abroad “because of our department’s shortcomings” were raised in the open letter.

“The impact is really great given that it not only delays our date of graduation but pushes back all our post-grad plans. This isn’t a minor inconvenience because it would mean months of waiting instead of being able to look for jobs as licensed engineers,” Magnaye added.

The deadline for the endorsement of the list of candidates for graduation per college is on July 5 while the University Graduation will be on July 31. With less than a month to resolve this issue, the 38 students are calling on university officials to approve their appeal and the whole UP community to support them as they traverse the long and winding UP’s bureaucratic jungle.

Featured image courtesy of Patrick Roque