UPLB to open agri courses in Visayas

The University of the Philippines – Los Baños (UPLB) is set to offer agriculture courses in the Visayas next school year.
Officials of UPLB lead by Dr. Domingo Angeles, dean of the College of Agriculture met with Gov. Hilario Davide III last Wednesday to discuss with him this development that may positively impact the province’s agricultural development.
Angeles said there might be issues and problems in the agriculture programs of the local government units, which may be answered through their research.
“Ang problem kasi natin ngayon is that hindi ma-access sa UPLB, unang una mahal, pangalawa, iyong pamasahe, and maintenance ng students,” said Angeles.
(The problem now is that UPLB is not very accessible, it is expensive, far and studying there would entail transportation and maintenance expenses of the students.)
UPLB, added Angeles is set to open its satellite campus in La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, where they have 588 hectares of land with facilities like a dormitory, an auditorium and offices.
They will start offering short graduate courses in August this year.
The school targets working professionals interested in attaining further studies in agriculture from UPLB, but do not have the opportunity to do so.
Davide said it is a welcome opportunity for Capitol employees to obtain their master’s or doctor’s degree and beef-up their credentials for job promotion.
“We want to bring the education in agriculture to where the students are,” said Angeles.
The UPLB officials have been going around the Visayas to ask for the support of local government units, particularly in selecting students for their Visayas campus.
Angeles said the decision came after observing that most of their students are from Luzon. He personally solicited the governor’s support of their plan last February 11.
UP has schools in Cebu, Iloilo and Tacloban in the Visayas but they do not offer agriculture courses.
Requirements
In order to avail of the program, the applicant should secure: transcript of records, letter of occupation if working, recommendation letter and evaluation by respective provincial government.
Once the province recommends the student applicant, UPLB will conduct is own admission evaluation.
Classes for the first semester of school year 2015-2016 will start in August this year. Tuition fee is P1,000 per unit.
Angeles said they chose to conduct classes on weekends starting at 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. so as not to inconvenience or discourage would-be students.
Students are expected to complete 12 units of course work in one semester or in four months.
The entire program requires students to complete 34 units of course work and six units of thesis. The students of this offsite graduate school will pay a similar amount of P1,000 per unit to UPLB.
Students could finish the program after four weekends./Correspondent Melissa Q. Cabahug