The COVID-19 crisis has greatly affected everyone worldwide. It has enforced changes in our daily activities, behavior, and livelihood. Despite this, our human nature dictates that we must fight for survival and be resilient. The University of the Immaculate Conception (UIC) recognizes this need. It is thus making the necessary adjustments to its operations so that we can still perform our role as an institution that provides quality education.

While scientists and researchers are doing their best to create a vaccine against SARS-COV-2, the virus, which causes COVID-19, a clinically trialed and safe one, will take 12-18 months [1,2]. Thus, the Philippine government will still require several measures such as community quarantines and prohibition of operation for non-essential goods businesses (including the education sector) to be able to “flatten the curve.” 

UIC believes that while our great minds and leaders are doing their part to help humanity survive, we also have to perform our responsibility to the community to still provide Ignacian Marian education. We conform to the proposal of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED)  [3] and the Department of Education (DepEd) [4] to implement flexible learning so that we can still impart knowledge and skills to the community.  Hence, UIC will be offering distance education to ensure the continuation of delivering learning services to old students as well as incoming freshmen students.

UIC will re-engineer its processes and procedures to be able to maximize the existing infrastructure that already enabled us to facilitate online learning even before this COVID-19 crisis. We will be offering distance education in the mid of July 2020. We will cater to three categories of learners: Category I (No Connectivity) – Students who do not have internet access, mobile devices, and other related resources at home, Category II (With Limited Connectivity) – Students who have irregular internet access but have at least a mobile device with messaging capability at home, and Category III (With Connectivity) – Students who have stable internet access, mobile devices, and other related resources at home. The university is partnering with telecommunication companies to help ensure that students and faculty have Internet connectivity and the necessary electronic equipment. 

UIC will start its online admission and pre-enrollment in all levels on May 18, 2020, for new students and transferees, and two weeks before the opening of classes for the online enrolment of old students.  Old students are requested to accomplish the survey posted on the school’s website and official Facebook page.

For questions, concerns, and inquiries, please e-mail the UIC Info Desk at info@uic.edu.ph or send a message on our official Facebook page at https://facebook.com/uicph.

References:

1. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/19/coronavirus-vaccine-when-will-we-have-one
2. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/30/opinion/coronavirus-covid-vaccine.html
3. https://ched.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/CHED-COVID-19-Advisory-No.-6.pdf
4. https://news.mb.com.ph/2020/04/29/teachers-need-assistance-to-use-flexible-learning-options-survey/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=38a4763ac4bcbf851f7b8343638e2f9375f9d060-1588327124-0-AdsmNzjd5cDBjYyxtyqPQsJWtOw_Ni1SaaLe2QhT0VA3mieb5jZZSCF3AWBA2-XmWew3ZM9GWGXrKPtZ-PEcG_rX_3C19iIU5q7D8KsZ3b1OphZUoqdpdDuYG7uYBw43Q40CSeJKTyPiOjh03v521qeuZWPxFV9teeJNOfg11m-RkGMqdkVbvR9va49pQywZtIgDW-JhPi4vrewz0A8DG5AEeG_jfSV1gMjTS62HeNPcYDRiVLKtwrFNW1IStqAGYzHuR23kwT2_x9M8MW910F4OFdHUQPRSwmB295rCP_ub8kFxan9BlJT8ELCBBuKy8e1-8RdljhAty4er816lIHnMr6oBFTNcFEYT4whyROQfsfmSEHEeUurfuu9M3GYdAQ