LRC to conduct RPBB in Dinagat Islands

UPLB is reaching out to senior high school students many nautical miles away to present UPLB as a university where they should enroll for college. Through the Learning Resource Center (LRC), UPLB will conduct its second face-to-face Recruitment Program for the Best and Brightest (RPBB) in 2023 in Dinagat Islands, Mindanao, on April 11.

LRC held the first one in Cagayan province last Jan. 27 to inform students about the UP College Admission Test (UPCAT) application process, UPLB programs, scholarships, financial assistance, and other student support services. According to Sheryl Edd Hermosa-Ebron, UPLB Recruitment Program Coordinator, they wanted to reach far-flung areas, such as agricultural provinces like Dinagat Islands, to make UPLB education more equitable and not just limited to Region IV-A. She said that when LRC brought RBPP to the Central Mindanao Campus of the Philippine Science High School, and the high school students heard that housing and support were available, many enrolled and have since graduated.

“Kung wala silang information, hindi sila magkakaroon ng informed decisions. Gusto nating maabot yung iba pang mga estudyante na magkaroon sana ng pagkakataon ng isang maganda at quality education.” (Without information, they won’t be able to make informed decisions. We want to reach other students so that they can have the opportunity of a good and quality education.) In 2013, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies and the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development published a comprehensive study about agriculture in higher education. The study found that enrollment in agriculture courses decreased by 1.5 percent annually.

With this decreasing trend, RPBB aimed to provide students with comprehensive information and meaningful opportunities if they decided to pursue a degree in agriculture. Speakers from the fields of forestry, veterinary medicine, statistics, nutrition, human ecology, and development communication are scheduled to share information about the career path for their respective degree programs and will be present to interact with the students.

RPBB will also be presenting other ways of entering UPLB such as through taking two-year non-degree courses such as the Associate of Science in Development Communication and Associate of Science in Forestry. The target participants of RPBB are the Grade 11 and 12 students of two participating schools in Dinagat Islands. This will be held with the provincial government, DepEd Dinagat Islands Division, and a UP alumnus.