UP Eyes Administering UPCAT In 2023, Explains Decision To Forego Test This Year

While it has decided to again forego the annual entrance examination this year, the University of the Philippines is preparing for the possible return of the UP College Admission Test (UPCAT) next year.

Next year’s UPCAT, if it pushes through, will be for the freshman intake for Academic Year 2024-2025, said UP vice president for public affairs Elena Pernia.

In a statement sent to The Philippine STAR/OneNews.PH on Tuesday night, Sept. 6, Pernia also explained the university’s decision to again suspend UPCAT this year.

“The logistical challenges of administering a nationwide college admission test involve over 100,000 student applicants and 1,600 test personnel. The ongoing public health issues cannot be dealt with effectively in such a short time,” she said.

“This decision was made by an overwhelming majority of the university councils across the entire UP System, composed of the chancellor, professors, associate professors and assistant professors of each of eight UP constituent units,” she added.

Pernia said the university councils, which serve as the highest policy-making body of each UP constituent university, voted to again adopt the ad hoc UP College Admission (UPCA) system for the freshman intake for Academic Year 2023-2024.

The ad hoc UPCA system was also adopted by the university after it postponed the UPCAT in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

Various sectors have called on the university to resume UPCAT, including Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano who filed a resolution citing complaints over the ad hoc system.

In her statement, Pernia maintained that the UPCA analyzes each applicant’s high school performance to ensure that “excellence and equity” are not compromised in accepting new students.

“In this case, ‘excellence’ refers to choosing the best qualifiers for UP. In contrast, ‘equity’ refers to democratic access to UP education, that is, creating a ‘level playing field’ so that the student’s profile reflects the socio-economic and geographic profile of the country,” she said.

 UP’s ad hoc admission system, she said, was designed and continually refined in the last three years by UP’s data scientists and vetted and approved by the university councils.

“Student applicants are considered using an admission score model that exhaustively analyzes their high school performance down to aptitudes in different subjects from Grade 8 to Grade 11,” Pernia said.

“Through a system of transmutation and standardization, this admission score model corrects the existing differences and variations in grading systems, types, and academic standards among Philippine high schools,” she added.

As a system, the UP official said UPCA factors in the impact of the pandemic and the sudden shift to remote learning on student performance that could affect a student applicant’s chances of admission to UP.

In an opinion piece published on The Philippine STAR on Sunday, Sept. 4, UP admissions director Francisco de los Reyes said conducting UPCAT this year may jeopardize the health and safety of the applicants and personnel who administer the test.

“The risks are just far too high. UP is not willing to take that chance, yet. But it has been preparing for UPCAT 2024 to be administered in 2023,” he said.

“Careful diligence in assessing the feasibility of administering the test led to the decision. The public health situation continued to be monitored. There is also the emergence of monkeypox. While it is a disease with limited transmissibility, its occurrence has some sectors concerned,” he added.

De los Reyes, an associate professor of statistics at the university, also stood by the strength and effectiveness of UPCA in assessing applicants.

“The University’s goal has always been the development of a student body that truly reflects an inclusive and diverse mix of intellectual capability across pockets of abilities, regional variation and high school type – with or without the UPCAT,” he said.

“The algorithm for the UPCA model is iteratively improved based on lessons and experiences in the recent past. This means that UPCA 2023 was refined based on data from UPCA 2022, where academic units, with concurrence from the university councils, also made assessment revisions based on UPCA 2021 intake experience,” he added.

UPCA, he said, is not inferior to the previous system with the test as those who qualified using the system are as intellectually competent as UPCAT takers.

“While the university is aware that some schools’ dominance in the qualifier list became permeable when the model was adopted, data actually demonstrate that qualified applicants are among the best in their respective milieus,” De los Reyes said.

“Why UPCA? This innovative model embodies UP’s commitment to excellence, equitability and inclusivity. It is a fitting model that enabled UP to remain true to its mandate as the national university amid enormous adversities in this time of COVID-19,” he added.