Illustration by Chelli V. Reyes

The further the world moves into the future, the smaller the world seems to become. Living in an age where the world is becoming more conscious of its cultural diversity, schools are taking steps to prepare their students to be more globally aware and competitive. The Ateneo is no different. While the newly proposed academic calendar may not be its first course of action in this regard, it may well be one of its most impactful.

The Philippines and Thailand are the only two countries in the Association of South- East Asian Nations (Asean) Network whose school year begins in June. The Ateneo recently announced the proposal of a new academic calendar for the whole university system—including the Loyola Schools and professional schools—in an attempt to sync with the calendars of its international partner universities. 80% of the Ateneo’s partner universities typically begin their school years in either August or September.

The student population had until November 7 to cast their vote on the new calendar. If approved, the new calendar will be implemented by the year 2015.

If the new academic calendar does end up being implemented, the resulting change will mean reevaluating numerous other factors, including how school offices will be affected operationally, what adjustments will have to be made to the Junior Term Abroad (JTA) program and what opportunities will be made more available to the school.

For Fr. Jose M. Cruz, SJ, the Vice President for University and Global Relations, “[Changing the academic calendar] would be for the precise purpose of improving the quality of education.”

It is crucial to assess the new calendar not just for its globalizing potential, but what other changes it might bring about in the university.

Globalizing the Ateneo

There is no disputing the reality that the world is becoming increasingly globalized. Today’s information-age professionals now have to navigate a complex world in which there exist a plethora of cultures, races, creeds and religions, all interacting simultaneously on an international scale.

For an institution like the Ateneo, which strives to become a global university, adapting to the changing global landscape is a necessity. A formal proposal for the academic calendar change, which was crafted by the Office of the Vice President for University and Global Relations (OVPUGR), has been posted on the school’s official website. It says: “Many of the most sought after jobs have a strong international content or require operating within a highly multicultural context.”

For the OVPUGR, it is integral that the university form graduates with a global outlook, global competencies and global civic engagement in order to instill within them a stronger sense of global citizenship. In molding graduates this way, the Ateneo seeks to “produce leaders with depth of thought and imagination, contributing to the framing of a regional research agenda, and participating in a regional and global network of outreach efforts.”

Various efforts are already underway in order to realize these aims. The concrete steps include increasing international diversity within the Ateneo community, participating in collaborative research efforts with partner institutions and hosting and participating in international conferences and competitions. In addition, the university is also looking into providing more opportunities for student and faculty mobility, establishing joint and dual degree programs with universities overseas, expanding outreach efforts to cover regional concerns and internationalizing the curriculum.

Of course, the Ateneo is no stranger to adapting to the ever-changing global landscape. According to Rowena Azada-Palacios, the JTA coordinator for the School of Humanities, “What happened over the last decade was simply a greater institutionalization of these programs, a more active attempt to generate the partnerships with the universities and a more active attempt to try to promote these programs. Before, it was simply whatever program fell into Ateneo’s lap.”

As a result, the Ateneo is able to make major strides towards its aim of becoming a global university as it moves further into the 21st century. However, having a misaligned calendar presents a serious stumbling block.

Of the world

Being aligned with a majority of its partner universities abroad holds many advantages. The Ateneo can more easily allow its outbound students to study in virtually any country they want by aligning with the foreign schools’ timelines. A change in the academic calendar could also mean an increase in inbound exchange students, giving Ateneans who aren’t able to study abroad more international exposure. For Azada-Palacios, the form globalization is taking in this day and age is “greater student as well as faculty mobility.”

For Aldo Tong, the JTA Coordinator of the John Gokongwei School of Management, the privilege of a more globalized education may become more accessible to students who don’t even plan on going on JTA.

“A lot of the international conferences, the student conferences, the leadership conferences, they all happen during June, July, August, because those are the months that most of the schools abroad are having their break,” says Tong. “So if we move [our summer break], then we could have more opportunities for our students to join all these different activities.”

However, one disadvantage brought up is how the new calendar might conflict with certain holidays. All Soul’s Day and Holy Week will fall within the regular semester, while summer vacation will end up taking place June and July, typically the rainiest months of the year.

OVPUGR Assistant Teresa Ricafort-Santos points out what she calls the “cultural mindset” of most students—that is, the perception of summer vacation as a break that must take place during the sunniest season of the year—as a possible obstacle for the new academic calendar’s implementation.

There is also some concern that holding classes during the summer months may not be conducive to learning due to the physical inconvenience brought about by the summer heat. To address this issue, the administration has explored the possibility of installing air conditioning systems in all classrooms within the Loyola Schools.

When asked whether this change is likely to take place, Fr. Cruz responded in the affirmative. “From what I can tell, it will,” he says. “It’s just a question of getting once again the consensus of the community.” But he adds, “In the meetings we’ve had with all of the offices, no one has thought an upward adjustment on the tuition fee would be expected or justifiable beyond the usual leveling up of inflation.”

Despite these possible conflicts, the newly proposed academic calendar will accommodate the testing dates of the board and bar exams. There is concern from the Ateneo Law School, however, that the new calendar might curtail the amount of bar review time by 3 months. Another issue raised is that the Ateneo will now have little to no room to create special terms during the school year to accommodate inbound and outbound exchange students. For instance, students going on JTA currently have to follow a special schedule, with these outbound students typically taking two accelerated terms—one before and one after their term abroad, thus effectively creating a trimestral schedule.

This was one way by which outbound students were able to take the classes in their university of choice, accommodate the Ateneo’s heavy core curriculum requirement and still graduate on time.

In order to address this issue, under the proposed new calendar, certain units will have to be moved around to accommodate the outbound student. One possible option is to move certain third year subjects such as philosophy to the second semester of sophomore year, Ricafort-Santos says. A plan to create special curricula for students who express their intention to go abroad as early as freshman year has also been discussed.

Azada-Palacios states, “I think in terms of addressing the goal of creating structures to enable more paths towards greater internationalization, of course [the new academic calendar] is going to be helpful. “ She adds, however, that the Ateneo won’t be able to align completely with all its partner universities, citing Japan and Korea as examples.

Ten years late

The Ateneo education will continue to become globalized regardless of whether or not the change in the academic calendar is implemented. Nevertheless, given the multitudes of problems created by having a calendar that is out-of-sync with the rest of the world, such a change may be necessary for the university to vigorously pursue its globalization efforts.

“Internationalization in the Ateneo will take place even without the shifting of the academic calendar,” the proposal on the Ateneo’s website says. “Shifting it, however, will dramatically increase the pace at which it happens.” The OVPUGR recently conducted an online survey to gauge the general opinion of the Ateneo community vis-à-vis the implementation of the change in the academic calendar.

Respondents were able to use it as a medium to voice their concerns that were not addressed in the online proposal, in addition to casting their vote as to whether or not they believe the change should take place.

Ultimately, however, the survey will only be one among many factors that the Board of Trustees will use when making its final decision. The formal recommendation will be made to the board in December 2013. “This survey will be one important factor. They will look at the results with care, but technically speaking, the survey will not decide the issue,” Fr. Cruz says.

Nevertheless, he maintains that the Ateneo community is generally in favor of implementing the calendar change. “I’m able to say this with confidence because the survey is going very well,” he says. “Most people I think are in favor of this thing.”

When asked directly whether he believes the change in the academic calendar will push through, Fr. Cruz minced no words. “If you ask me, we are at least 10 years late.”