UPLB Students Living In The Past, Not In The Current Digital Present!

 


“Businesses Urged To Gear Up For Digital Economy[1]” by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez (29 August 2020, PhilStar Global). And UP Los Baños will simply ignore this call of the times?!

As a University of the Philippines Los Baños, UPLB graduate of 1965, as a nonstop crusading writer for agriculture & agroforestry since 1975, as a self-imposed indefatigable self-trained blogger since 2005, as a work from home, WFH, since 2007, I continue to espouse, among other causes, the intellectual contributions of my alma mater in terms of inclusive development for the whole Philippines.

Above, the image of students protesting is from the Facebook 28 August 2020 sharing of UPLB Perspective;[2] the image of field under research[3] is from Curtin University, Au. I believe the field research is more relevant to the Filipinos (and the Australians) than the student protests of UPLB.

“UPLB Stakeholders Prefer A ‘Pro-Student, Pro-People’ Chancellor,” writes PB Yapjoco:

In the search (for) the next UPLB Chancellor, statements from numerous student institutions, the ‘Vibe Check’ election polls, and the No to Third Term Coalition (N3TC) all convey the same message: “Heed the students’ concerns!”

With elections deemed exclusive to the Board of Regents (BOR), several organizations resorted to different public movements to prompt voters to put the interests of different sectors of the university first as these members of the board select the 10th Chancellor of UPLB. Additionally, organizations took the time to answer the question of what makes a “pro-student, pro-people” chancellor.

Among the hopefuls for term 2020-2023 are President of Eclaro Academy and Eclaro Business Solutions Inc Patrick Alain Azanza, the current Dean of UPLB Graduate School (GS) Jose Camacho Jr, and incumbent Chancellor Fernando C Sanchez Jr.

Personally, I have already chosen whom I want as the next Chancellor of my University: Azanza. In my essay, “Who Will Be The Chancellor Of The Brave New World Of UPLB[4]?” this is what I wrote:

Azanza has a PhD in Educational Administration from UP Diliman. His Vision is to “harness the University’s potentials” in development communication, eLearning, information science, and technology.

Azanza's my brave man!

I like what he says about agriculture and education:

As we inevitably welcome the Internet of Things (IoT) and other technology advancements, UPLB has that distinct role in defining the academic boundaries and depths by which such technologies and scientific applications shall fit into the University’s curricular offerings in order to develop knowledge and skills that can be put to meaningful use in the industries,

The UPLB students reported on by Miss PB noted that:

Although centralizing the university vision to a “Silicon Valley UPLB” is a good step to the advancement of the industry, constituents must be cautious with the implication of partnering with private businesses, since commercialization schemes have been a pressing issue for the UP System.

To solve a problem, change the problem. In that case, all UP does not recognize the role of business in science! UP is rejecting a great historical role of bridging science with business!@517


[1]https://www.philstar.com/business/2020/08/29/2038518/businesses-urged-gear-digital-economy?fbclid=IwAR3Xu7W-aecO4aOSeJys1Sx40jCe-IGW1NnRN_rEF6-ZOS3gwjdc-iXzm6s
[2]https://uplbperspective.org/2020/08/28/uplb-stakeholders-prefer-pro-student-pro-people-chancellor/?
bclid=IwAR119VjIxbM4A8BMTDhIe0E3k8VcTEcff6JkO1divsXo39lJI-LVA1a_SSA
[3]https://research.curtin.edu.au/projects-expertise/institutes-centres/centre-for-digital-agriculture/
[4]https://bravenewworldph.blogspot.com/2020/08/who-will-be-chancellor-of-brave-new.html

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