UPLB to Set up Agriculture Graduate Course in Cebu

Governor Hilario P. Davide III supports the plan of a state university to offer a graduate course in Agriculture in Cebu.

The program is also designed to assist the agricultural development in the province.

Dr. Domingo Angeles, dean of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB) College of Agriculture, said there might be issues and problems in the agriculture programs of the local government units, which may be answered through their research.

He said they also plan to strengthen their collaboration with the private sector in doing research pertaining to agri-based industry.

The school targeted the working professionals who may be interested to attain further studies in Agriculture from UPLB, but do not have the occasion to do so.

The program does not compete with local schools, as UPLB would be the first and only school to offer graduate programs in Agriculture in Cebu.

Davide said it is also a welcome opportunity for the Capitol employees to get a master’s or doctor’s degree and beef up their credentials for a job promotion.

Instead of students going to Manila, the professors will be the one to travel to Cebu.

“We want to bring the education in Agriculture to where the students are,” said Angeles.

The classes will in a modular scheme and will be held on every weekend.

The students are expected to complete 12 units of course work in one semester or in four months, which will start this school year 2015-2016. The first semester of UPLB starts in August.

The entire program requires the students to complete 34 units of course work and six units of thesis. The students of offsite graduate school will be paying a similar amount of Php 1,000 per unit of tuition fee to UPLB.

Angeles said the decision came after observing that most of their students came from Luzon.He personally solicited the governor’s support of their plan last February 11. He was accompanied by Rex Demafelis, vice chancellor for research and extension at UPLB.

UP has schools in Cebu and Iloilo in the Visayas but they do not offer agriculture courses.

For their main campus in the Visayas, UPLB has a station in La Carlota, Negros Occidental but this is undergoing repairs.

Davide’s uncle Dr. Romulo Davide, Capitol consultant on Agriculture and Farmer-Scientist Training Program Leader, is a professor emeritus of ULPB.

Source: www.cebu.gov.ph