As University of the Philippines (UP) President Alfredo E. Pascual’s flagship project, the Php750 million eUP Project has a goal to design and put in place an integrated, interconnected and interoperable Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems and infrastructure in and across all UP campuses. The UP Board of Regents approved the project on August 17, 2011.
The eUP Project is part of UP Strategic Plan 2011-2017: The Path to Greatness. The multi-year plan envisions a unified UP system where operational efficiency is achieved through digital exchange of information, sharing of data and electronic processing of transactions. The eUP Project is one of the strategic initiatives of the Pascual administration to make UP truly “one university.”
The five components of eUP are as follows:
- policy formulation, organization and mobilization
- benchmarking and ICT audit
- acquisition/development and installation of appropriate information systems
- ICT infrastructure development
- ICT competency building
The project was intended to answer operational challenges that have beset the university for a long time. These challenges include processing of academic transactions, data sharing, data collection and management, report generation, and reliable interconnection. With the implementation of eUP, the level of operational efficiency in the UP System should see improvement in terms of reduced transaction processing time, reduced paperwork, accessible data, increased Internet bandwidth, increased transaction volume, increased number of students using ICT for learning, standardized data, shared services across constituent universities, increased savings, and improved decision-making capability.
UP Cebu, which is the system’s sole autonomous college, will have access to the educational resources and learning materials of other UP campuses. For example, a professor who wants to deliver a lecture to a number of audiences in multiple locations may do so given the appropriate technological and communication facilities. During the eUP Project kickoff on August 8, 2012, at AVR 2 in UP Cebu’s Undergraduate Building, President Pascual noted in his video message that lectures may be video-recorded, saved and uploaded on a Web site, to be viewed by students at their most convenient time.
After registration at the kickoff, the UP Cebu Serenata performed the national anthem, and Dr. Ritchelita P. Galapate (UP Cebu’s associate dean for academic affairs) gave the welcome remarks. Dr. Elvira A. Zamora, the UP System’s vice president for development, did the presentation of the eUP Project, since eUP is one of the major projects of the Office of the Vice President for Development (OPVD) toward actualizing the president’s vision for the university, as laid out in Strategic Plan 2011-2017.
Prof. Teresita J. Rodriguez, who is UP Cebu’s OIC dean, talked about the school’s commitments in eUP, before the Hon. Alfredo E. Pascual delivered his eUP Project kickoff message. Prof. Rodriguez said that the people of UP Cebu are committed to eUP. The chairperson for the eUP Project for UP Cebu is Mr. Jason Nieva.
Providing the response from eUP partners were Wilson Ng of Ng Khai Development Corp. and Robert J. Cheng of Alliance Software Development. Wilson Ng said that he hoped the eUP Project will help the university make information technology more accessible to others. After the partners’ messages, an open forum and press conference about the project followed.
Also on August 8, the eUP Quality Assurance Team held a meeting on performance metrics with Prof. Rodriguez at the Dean’s Office in UP Cebu. Ms. Dittas Formoso, leader of the Change Management Team, addressed the participants of the Change Management Workshop. She said that change should not be imposed on people. It should involve people.
In connection with the eUP Project, a Digital Video Production Workshop started at UP Cebu on August 9, 2012. Ms. Triccie Obligacion served as the three-day workshop’s facilitator. Participants in the video production workshop gave constructive criticism on the clips they took using digital devices. On day 2 of the workshop, the participants were busy editing clips using Adobe Premiere Pro. The workshop took a hands-on approach to teaching digital video production. She also taught the basics of Adobe After Effects to the workshop participants. For day 3, a screening of the participants’ video masterpieces was held.
The eUP Project staff thanked the university’s staff, faculty, reps, students, and other stakeholders in UP Cebu for making the eUP kickoff on August 8, 2012, a success. In the Bisaya dialect, they also exhorted the UP community with “Padayon (carry on), UP!”
Any interested people can find out more on the eUP Project by visiting its Facebook page at facebook.com/eUPproject or by following @eupproject on Twitter. To get in contact with those working on the eUP project, you may send [email protected] an e-mail message.
