ASL to restructure
The Alliance of Student Leaders (ASL) will be restructuring, said incumbent ASL Secretary-General Astrid Ocampo. According to her, ASL will fortify its principles and ideology this year so that the coalition can establish a new political party. Ocampo said that ASL members decided to make restructuring one of their top priorities. They began meeting about the matter over the summer. ASL hopes to establish its restructured political formation in time for the Sanggunian Freshmen and Special Elections in August. By Mara D. Cepeda
ASoG holds FactCheck 2013
The Ateneo School of Government’s (AsoG) Political Democracy and Reforms (Poder) program created FactCheck 2013. The program was a three-part series of press releases aimed to check the consistency of senatoriables’ claims and positions on national issues with their track records. The fact-checking panel consisted of Vice President for Social Development Atty. Jaime Hofileña, AsoG Poder Program Director Joy G. Aceron, Political Science Department instructor RR Rañeses, former Economics Department Chair Fernando Aldaba, PhD and AsoG Dean Antonio La Viña. The three press releases touched on the issues of coalitional politics, the Freedom of Information bill, political dynasties, party development, conditional cash transfer, electoral reform, employment, environment, foreign affairs, local elections and the White Vote Movement. By Mara D. Cepeda
SOH offers new elective
Professors from the School of Humanities team up to offer insights about the self in a new elective course entitled SOH101: The Meaning of Identity. It aims to explore the meaning of identity from the standpoints of literature, philosophy, theology and the arts, while discussing the factors that affect the development and maintenance of personal identity. Professors from different social science disciplines will also give some lectures to offer their own views on such themes. The elective course is offered in the first semester this school year. By Joline S. Acampado
Ateneo adopts new IT system into curriculum
Ateneo de Manila University signed a three-year partnership with Epictech Inc. effective this school year. The partnership aims to expose students to certain workplace scenarios and events through the use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. Syspro, Epictech’s partner, has an academic alliance program that helps educational institutions incorporate Information Technology into their curricula. The Ateneo is the first Asian country to make use of this system. Some universities in Kenya, South Africa and Canada have already adopted the ERP software suite. The Ateneo will offer the ERP program as an elective starting the first semester. By Gilliann S. Ebreo
Discs offers new course on quantitative trading
This year, the Department of Information Systems and Computer Sciences (Discs) will offer a new course entitled CS195.6: Special Topics: Financial Applications (Quantitative Trading). The course is for undergraduate students interested in statistical and technical analysis and rule-based strategy for trading in the financial markets. It aims to teach students how to break down complex charts, learn specific trading techniques, find trading patterns and trading signals, simulate trading strategies to enter and exit the market and to test their trading strategy using historical data. The course will also touch on the basics of statistical forecasting, fundamental analysis and technical analysis algorithm. The course will be taught by Discs Associate Professor Kardi Tekonomo, PhD, who has had 15 years of experience with computer simulations. By Gilliann S. Ebreo
