MANILA, 26 February 2007 — Good news for OFWs! Now you can earn college education degrees through the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) curricula for distance education.
Mainly an online learning through the Internet, the country’s premier university has expanded its educational services as it now gives non-baccalaureate diploma for Associate In Arts, the only non-graduate degree so far, and graduate degrees in education and more.
Actress Sharon Cuneta, the second topnotcher in the annual admission test at the UPOU, given her hectic schedule, is currently taking up Associate in Arts course.
UPOU Director for Academic Support and Instructional Services Maria Lurenda Westergaard said the number of applicants to UPOU courses have been gradually increasing over the years.
Just this year, there are nearly 2,000 students, 80 percent of whom are taking up graduate and post-graduate courses while the rest are taking up short-term diploma and undergraduate courses.
UPOU has about two dozen courses ranging from non-formal courses to graduate and post-graduate courses, nearly all of which are offered online.
UPOU has made arrangements with the Philippine e-Library to enable its students to access online. There is more than a million collection of library materials of the University of Philippines and four other partner institutions (i.e., National Library of the Philippines, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Agriculture and Commission on Higher Education) at present. The students are provided username and password to connect to its website at www.elib.gov.ph. They are also given an unlimited access to its bibliography and digitized resource materials.
OFWs who have been teachers abroad can now apply for admission in Master in Distance Education Program. A multimedia teaching awaits prospective UPOU students as it enhances teaching not only through the internet but also through the radio and television. The program will open to enrollees starting the first semester of school year 2007-2008.
UPOU Faculty of Education also offered the Professional Teaching Certification (PTC) program last June 2006, which aims to provide 18 units of professional education courses to non-education graduates who intend to teach in Philippine public schools.
Other courses offered at the UPOU are Diploma in Research and Development Management, Master of Development Communication, Diploma in Computer Science, Master of Environment and Natural Resources Management.
UPOU has established a testing center in Bangkok, Thailand. The testing center is being managed by the Worldwide Education Link (WEL). It is located at the 21st Floor of Olympia Thai Tower, 444 Ratchada Phisek Rd, Huaykwang Bangkok, Thailand and with telephone numbers (01) 446 5331 and (04) 119-7788.
Distnguished Graduates
Popular graduates of UPOU are Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, blind Marx Vergel Melencio, and American citizen Emery Graham.
Despite Mayor Binay’s busy schedule, he was able to efficiently manage his time and juggle his various tasks and activities so as to graduate from the course. He said that when he enrolled at UPOU, he was ready to comply with the requirements and to dedicate the necessary time for his academic undertaking.
Being visually impaired is not a hindrance for this 26 year old, self-employed, computer enthusiast, metal band member, Marx Vergel Melencio of Quezon City as he pursues an Associate in Arts (AA) program at UPOU. He enrolled at UPOU because of its convenient learning systems which make use of modern technological innovations such as the Integrated Virtual Learning Environment (IVLE), and of web-based research and learning integration through the internet. These innovations, according to him, allow UPOU to provide unrestricted access to quality education by the handicapped, even by the visually impaired.
With mp3 players, scanners, soundcards and speakers, Melencio uses Jaws to read, edit and create digital text documents for his studies in the AA program and for his own personal purposes. He even quipped, “ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been a voracious reader. But technically, I am now a voracious listener.”
Endorsement
Emery Graham is the City of Wilmington, Delaware’s Economic Development Research Planner and one of UPOU’s overseas graduates. Right now, he is enrolled in UPOU’s Master of Professional Studies in Development Communication program. He has been professionally and academically involved in all phases of development work for more than 25 years. He has taught secondary school among marginalized people in urban and rural America, financed and built low-income housing, and also implemented health and social services programs.
Graham is now encouraging his friends and relatives in the US to take a look at UPOU’s offerings. He considers UPOU one of the best educational institutions in the world. His words of advice to anyone who wants to finish a postgraduate degree are “work hard to overcome the doubts and misgivings generated by fatigue and challenge.”
