by
Ms. Liberty Catbagan, MS EDMEV | Ms. Juanita Espiritu, MAEd
Prof. Lourdes Rillorta, Ed.D. | Ms. Miriam Ann Saboy, MS Psych
ABSTRACT
An educational system aims to provide a broad general education that will assist each individual to attain his/her potential as a human being. The University of Baguio, as an institution of higher learning, is anchored on this philosophy of education. Since its foundation in 1948, it has geared its programs towards attaining its goal of developing students in accordance with their abilities. The University has improved by leaps and bounds, in terms of its services, to focus on the student as the very center of the educational process. As part of the University’s innovation to address certain needs of its students, a 21-unit study load policy was implemented during the first semester of the school year 2006-2007. Thus, this study aimed to determine the views of the freshmen toward the said policy. The study made use of the normative survey method, using a questionnaire to gather the responses of freshmen students from the Colleges of Hotel & Restaurant Management (HRM), Liberal Arts, Dentistry, Medical Technology, Education, Law Enforcement Academy (LEA), Commerce, Engineering, Information Communications Technology (ICT) and Nursing. An analysis of the data bears out the following: respondents who agree to the 21-unit study load policy claim that it makes it easier to cope with their studies. Those who did not agree to the policy said that they found it too easy and expected to have more units for them to graduate earlier. Among the advantages of the policy mentioned by the respondents are: the students can manage their time, they can enjoy more vacant time, they have time to rest, and they gain more knowledge as they are able to concentrate more. The major disadvantages of the policy are as follows: there is too much wasted free time that students get to engage in vices and it causes delays in another semester.
Source: UB Research Journal, Vol. XXXI, No. 1, January to June 2007
