Despite all the tagging the University of the Philippines (UP) gets—that it’s a communist breeder, or “recruiter ng NPA,” it seems the institution is busier receiving accolades and expressing its gratitude for the recognition coming its way.
Yesterday alone, the State University figured in three news reports, each one talking about its latest achievement.
First, UP is once more listed by international think-tank Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) as one of the best higher-education institutions (HEI) in Asia. The state university advanced three spots from its previous ranking (69). Thirteen other local universities made it to the list, which include Ateneo de Manila University (135), De La Salle University (166), and University of Santo Tomas (186).
QS Asia University Rankings used similar methodologies as the QS World University Rankings, but “with some additional indicators and adapted weightings,” according to its website. The other indicators are developed in consultation with regional experts and stakeholders, such as academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, international research work, staff with PhD, research citations, among others.
Yesterday was also a joyous day for the UP medical community as 98% of its medical students passed the 2020 Physician Licensure Examinations. Besting the over 3,500 board passers is Jomel Garcia Lapides, who garnered a rating of 88.67. Tiffany Uy, who graduated with a nearly perfect general weighted average (GWA) of 1.004 in 2015 is in fifth place, with a rating of 88.08.
Also making their alma mater proud are engineering, business administration, and accounting students that make up the Alamat UP team, who is now one step closer to winning the Shell’s Eco-Marathon (SEM) Pitch the Future research contest.
The team recently won the online polls for its CERO (CO2 Emission Reduction Operation) entry in the “Tracking and Reducing CO2 (carbon dioxide) Emissions from Vehicles with Microsoft” part of the competition. It garnered 53 percent of the votes, surpassing TED University in Turkey (45 percent) and University of Alberta in Canada (2 percent).
According to the UP Diliman website, CERO helps drivers maximize their fuel use with eco-driving directions. “This will decrease their monthly fuel costs by P1750 to P7250 and prevent unnecessary CO2 emissions by 15%. Furthermore, the recorded CO2 emission count would be anonymously collected and used as guide for environmental policy making,” the website mentioned.
Among the features of the app, according to the Shell website, are real-time eco-driving notifications, optimal route mapping capabilities, after-trip analysis, and fuel consumption wallet for budgeting.
“Pitch the Future” is a virtual competition that challenges Shell Eco-marathon teams from around the world to apply their technical skills and come up with solutions for real-world energy challenges. These include developing concepts to lower energy use at home, tracking and reducing CO2 emissions from vehicles, decarbonizing road freight transport, and use of electric vehicles.
The university-wide team will face a panel of judges during the live pitch, competing against regional winners of America and Europe for the grand title. The online voting scores, which comprise 23% of the competition, will be added to the team’s total scores. The team getting the highest combined score will be declared the global winner of the category, which will be announced on Dec. 10 (Dec. 11 in Manila).