MANILA, Philippines – The student councils of the University of the Philippines have endorsed UP Diliman Chancellor Fidel Nemenzo as the next university president.

The student councils made the endorsement through a resolution during their General Assembly of Student Councils (eGASC) on Wednesday, December 7.

Tinig ng Plaridel, the official publication of the UP College of Mass Communication, reported that the resolution cited Nemenzo’s UPD chancellorship and his response to students’ welfare during the COVID-19 pandemic as reasons for the endorsement.

The eGASC also adopted a resolution denouncing the nomination of former UP Los Baños chancellor Fernando Sanchez Jr.

Nemenzo and Sanchez are among the six nominees vying to be the next president of the country’s premier state university.

Other nominees are:

• Patrick Alain Azanza (Catanduanes State University president)
• Salvador Belaro Jr. (former 1-Edukasyon representative)
• Angelo Jimenez (former faculty regent)
• Benito Pacheco (former UP Diliman vice chancellor for research and development)

In a public forum on November 10, Nemenzo stressed the implications of solely relying on university rankings as a gauge of excellence.

“While we need to expand our programs and increase our outputs, we also need to protect the integrity of our scholarship. Too much focus on meeting targets might distort our agendas…. I see the value of rankings as a way of benchmarking, but we should never lose sight of our real objective, and that is to contribute to knowledge and solve our country’s problems,” Nemenzo said.

In this year’s Times Higher Education World University Ranking, UP placed in the 801-1,000 bracket, a decline from their 601-800 spot in 2021. The university was evaluated based on five metrics: teaching (30%), research (30%), citations (30%), industry income (7.5%), and international outlook (2.5%).

The next UP president, to be elected by the university’s 11-member Board of Regents, will replace  UP President Danilo Concepcion, whose six-year term ends in February 2023. The new UP president will be announced on Friday, December 9. – Rappler.com