In the recent, UPV Student summit attended by UPV student organizations and councils, the student body has convened on the student agenda expressing that we are facing challenges of the academic calendar shift.Pushing the policy-making in line with the UP Charter of 2008, UP President Alfredo E. Pascual (PAEP) took the lead in the BOR to approve the shift in the academic calendar. The Charter mandates that UP become a regional and global university in cooperation with international and scientific unions, networks of universities.

The alignment of the academic calendar, lessons, and curriculum with ASEAN and other foreign countries will mean that the university is preparing itself in welcoming international programs. Research opportunities of UP students will expand which makes it easier for Filipino students who wish to study outside the country. The shift will also mean less interruption of class activities caused by the rainy season during the first semester and by calendar holidays during the second semester. For about a semester now, this implementation has not yet been mutually exclusive despite UPs participation in faculty and student exchanges and research collaborations. When only a single consultation was held here in UPV, students as well as faculty are at a lost on what will be the activities that will be incorporated in the new calendar. Just as it seems it was not deliberated well at all even to the University Councils and University Student Councils for them to do their job in orienting the students. The UPV USC Chairperson shares that it was a great challenge for them to set student activities left to their own representation when their constituents are jammed up with academic demands in the 3-month semester last year. Student participation was lessened

Moreover, operational issues beleaguer the implementation of the policy. In an interview with UPD Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Ronald Banzon, he enumerates issues that were raised during the University Council (UC) meeting, such as the new academic calendars disjunct with board exam schedules, as well as the calendars of the majority of public and private high schools.

Cross-enrolment and transfer of students from other local universities will also be difficult, and internship programs and fieldwork of students will be disrupted. Additional fees for the students are also becoming a concern, as there will be a need to improve ventilation, probably through air-conditioning, for regular classes during summer.Instead of treating Filipino graduates as commodities for sale to foreign employers, education should be geared towards the necessities of local job creation, and of national development. This blind obedience to the dictates of the international market belies UPs history as a leader in the field of education and national policy UP should step up, instead of joining the bandwagon.