UP Mindanao Convocation goes virtual in 2021; enrollment increases by 18%

by Ena Marie Olivares-Dizon

Defined by their mission-driven grit and unity as a university, the University of the Philippines  Mindanao welcomed its new students on 13 September 2021 with open arms—and inspired to ‘make the impossible possible’—during such an unprecedented time.

Two batches of students – from Academic Years 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 – were welcomed in this annual event through its first-ever online University Convocation, marking the start of classes for the First Semester of Academic Year 2021-2022.

While UP Mindanao entered the academic year virtually due to COVID-19, it managed to cater to 368 new students comprising batch 2021.

According to University Registrar Assoc. Prof. Vladimer B. Kobayashi, the 368 enrollees this year represented an 18% increase in first-year students compared to the 312 first-year students of batch 2020, who were also present and welcomed on the same day after the cancellation of the convocation ceremony in 2020 due to the pandemic.

These undergraduate students from the nine existing degree programs of the university were joined by the 21 pioneering members of the Associate in Arts Sports Studies (AASS) degree program, UP Mindanao’s newest academic offering, which caters to experienced and exceptional student-athletes.

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) had the highest intake with 342 new students, followed by the College of Science and Mathematics (CSM) with 275, and the School of Management (SOM) – which offers one undergraduate degree program at present – with 62 new students.

Prof. Kobayashi further noted that “there is a sharp increase in enrollment for BS Agribusiness Economics, BS Applied Mathematics, and BA English.” Moreover, he observed that enrollment figures for each of the degree programs“ are now at least 30,” expressing a new benchmark in some of UP Mindanao’s undergraduate degree programs that have had low admission rates in the past.

By degree program of the CHSS, BS Architecture has 56 new students from batch 2020 and 58 from batch 2021; BS Anthropology has 34 and 30; BA Communication and Media Arts has 44 and 43; BA English has 24 and 33; the new AASS program has 21.

In the CSM, the BS Applied Mathematics program has 21 second-year and 33 first-year students; BS Biology has 40 and 43; BS Computer Science has 34 and 39; BS Food Technology has 32 in the second-year cohort and 33 students in the first-year group.

In the SOM, the BS Agribusiness Economics program has 27 second-year and 35 first-year students.