Canceled programs to be offered after 2 years - teacher

MANILA - University of Santo Tomas will not be offering journalism and legal management programs this school year due to low turnout of qualified applicants, a school official said.

In an article published by the Faculty of Arts and Letters' local publication The Flame, Assistant Dean Narcisa Tabirara said the Dean's office decided to remove journalism and legal management from the offered 16 programs as it did not reach the quota of at least 35 students.

Only six and 11 applicants qualified for the Jrn and LM programs, respectively.

Tabirara said qualified journalism applicants were recommended to shift to Communication Arts, while those who passed legal management were recommended to shift to Political Science.

Meanwhile, professors who teach Journalism and LM courses are instructed to teach Communication Arts and PolSci courses as well.

She said the CA and PolSci have the same minor subjects as the cancelled courses.

"There is no real problem. The only concern is the major subjects and these professors [in Journalism and Legal Management] will teach the other major subjects," Tabirara said in an interview with The Flame.

Applicants who do not want to change programs were advised to try other Universities that offer the said programs.

According to UST School of Journalism coordinator Jeremaiah Opiniano, the Philippines’ transition to K-12 program caused low turnout for the incoming college students, therefore some programs will have to be cancelled.

In a Facebook post, Opinion said the canceled programs will be offered again after two years once the number of college applicants and students increase.

“When the first batch of freshmen will enter the university system come AY 2018-2019, there will be freshmen from all courses--including journalism. So please do not be worried, dear alumni and friends," he added. Anna Mogato, ABS-CBN News