STARTING THIS summer, graduate students will be able to enlist in their classes via the Ateneo Integrated Student Information System.
This also marks the second time that enlistees will be grouped into eight batches, instead of the usual four.
Management Information Systems Director Christopher Glenn Año said that the school has been using the eight-batch scheme since summer 2010.
However, the four-batch system will still be implemented for the first and second semesters during the regular school year.
Año explained that there are more batches for the summer semester because batching is done by school. For the first and second semesters, batching is done by school and year level.
“More students per batch would mean more users accessing the system at the same time. We would like to maintain the number of concurrent users for optimal server performance,” Año said, explaining the rationale behind the eight-batch scheme.
As the eight-batch system is not a new batching scheme, the process for summer online enlistment will still be the same as last year’s.
The only difference is that graduate students will also be able to enlist online. Before they can do so, they would need to get advised for their classes. This is important in assessing the number of slots available for particular classes, since some graduate students may choose to enlist in undergraduate classes.
Ateneo Registration Committee (RegCom) Head Haomin Liao explained that this does not necessarily mean more competition for slots.
“Students might complain that their random numbers are really bad because there are eight batches now,” she said. “But it doesn’t mean more competition. Graduate students have their own graduate classes that we can’t enlist into. Though they are allowed to enlist in undergraduate classes, there are only a few who actually do.”
“[If] they want to get into an undergraduate class, their slots will be accounted for in the advisement summary. As long as the departments offer enough classes as reflected in the advisement summary, there will be enough slots for everyone,” Año said.
The Office of the Registrar, Office of Management Information Systems and the RegCom meet every semester to discuss online and regular enlistment matters, including random numbers and online batching.