STC students highlight concerns on integration

The DLSU Science and Technology Complex (STC) integration was initially implemented as a solution to the congestion of the Taft campus, as well as the expansion of Lasallian education to the Laguna campus. In the future, the STC campus is envisioned to be an institution that would educate Lasallians who would bring scientific and technological advancements to the country.

Since the integration, the students have also been privileged to access both the Taft and STC campuses. As part of the integration, both campuses now have a unified identity, wherein STC follows the policies of the Taft campus. However, with some issues like transportation problems and availability of courses, some students raised a few personal concerns regarding the integration.

Students on the integration

Some STC students say one of the things that benefit them most since the integration is that they are now able to join student organizations in the Taft campus. Loraine Ruiz (III, AB-CAMS) shares that, “Before the integration, the organizations in the STC campus are very limited. Now, students based in the STC campus can get out of their comfort zone and have the opportunity to be challenged and manage their time by joining organizations in the Taft campus.”

For Chelsea Junio (III, BSBA-OM), the integration has opened a lot of opportunities for the students of both campuses, and helped build camaraderie and oneness between the two. She furthers, “The integration also allowed students to cope up with their program curriculum and enroll in different subjects in the main campus, which are not offered in the STC campus.”

Keith Tabuso (III, BSBA) says that the integration has been effective since students also experience having professors from the Taft campus. Infrastructure developments such as facilities improvement and construction of new buildings for engineering students are also underway.

However, Tabuso believes some other aspects of the integration are not as effective, citing how sports organizations in STC have all been transferred to the Taft campus. “It is unfair to our side because some of those sports organizations train during the night, which would be hassle to us because we would go there [to the Taft campus] at night just to train,” he furthers. For Stephanie Ma (IV, BSBA-OM), the integration has made it difficult for STC to address its own issues, since it is actively involved with other matters related to the Taft campus.

Among other setbacks of the integration is the lack of student awareness on different activities held in both campuses. Junio shares, “I suggest that they promote more activities that would entice students to visit both campuses and learn to embrace the similarities and uniqueness between the two.”

On STC’s student population

In terms of the enrollment turnout and student population in STC, Junio says that so far, the enrollment growth has been quite low. “I guess this is because the integration has not fully been established and there are certain things that still need to be improved in promoting our university,” she furthers.

Tabuso says that when he enrolled in STC, the student population was quite high. Since the integration, the number of students has dwindled. He believes that most of them decide to enroll their classes in the Taft campus because of STC’s distance.

Associate Vice President for Enrollment Services Kai Shan Fernandez says that the enrollment turnout per academic year has not increased in STC because the high standards of admission in the Taft campus are also applied. “This is to ensure uniformity in the quality of students admitted in both campuses in keeping with the goal of full integration,” she furthers. Fernandez also explains that the degree programs that had a very low enrollment turnout will still be offered to incoming applicants.

There have been misconceptions that STC students who decide to enroll classes in the Taft campus are officially enrolled there. Fernandez says that STC students are, by default, enrolled in STC-offered courses. “They may enroll in the Manila campus if for instance, a needed course is not offered in STC or if there is conflict in the schedule of classes,” she explains.

Since the integration, Fernandez says that it has been beneficial in terms of enforcing standard admission and enrollment policies, procedures, and systems for ID 113 and above. Although the enrollment turnout for STC is not as high as compared to before due to increased standards in admission, this shows that the University values the quality of students who enroll.

With other aspects of the integration that still need improvement, such as infrastructure, research facilities and common faculty pooling, among others, the University has much work to do in order to actualize its goals of developing STC as a key resource for scientific advancements and technological innovations in the country.