THE QUEZON City University Board of Regents has approved a total of P209 million budget for its learning continuity plan for the school year 2020-2021.

“Aside from providing our students in public schools with modules and tablets, we need also to provide our city’s college students with similar benefits for them to adapt in the ‘new normal’ learning process,” Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte said.

The mayor, who is also the chairperson of the University’s Board of Regents, said that the QCU is preparing for its transition to flexible learning modalities which include offline, online and blended learning.

One major program that is in the pipeline is the QCU Laptop Loan Program wherein both students and teachers with limited access to learning devices will be made as beneficiaries of such loan program during their stay with the university.

“We will still conduct offline classes for technical and practical learning, but we will reduce our class size to only 15-20 students and ensure that safety protocols are in place,” QCU officer-in-charge Dr. Victor Endriga said.

Endriga also said that funds have also been allocated for the procurement of additional medical supplies and equipment for QCU’s consumption.

The budget will also cover learning management systems for virtual learning, internet connectivity for students and faculty members, computer software for all the degree programs and online reference materials and development of academic management systems for online processing of enrollment.

The university, which has three campuses located in barangays San Bartolome, San Francisco and Batasan, has projected a total enrollment of not less than 9,000 college students.

Since one of the campuses was also used as the city’s quarantine facility, the local government has assured the students, faculty members and parents that thorough and stringent disinfection would be conducted in and around the campus.

“We will ensure that all classrooms and buildings will be decontaminated prior to the beginning of classes. Health protocols and guidelines will also be implemented to ascertain the health and safety of the school community,” city education affairs head Aly Medalla said.

“We thank the university for serving as a quarantine facility during our battle against Covid19,” Belmonte said.