STUDENT groups and faculty members of the University of the East filed a petition before the school’s Board of Trustees over the impending closure of the Electronics Engineering Program of UE-Manila.

The University Student Council, Central Student Council, UE-Manila Engineering Student Council and the Faculty Association said the closure of the ECE program “must be reconsidered and nullified.”

“BSECE is a tough and complex program and its Board Exam is arguably one of the most difficult Engineering Board Exams in the country which has yielded to a percentage below but close to the national passing rate,” the groups said in a letter to Lucio Tan, chairman of the university.

“Based on official PRC record, the ECE Department in Manila Campus has a number of passing percentages above the national passing percentage and even produced ECE Board topnotchers,” they added.

In November 2020, the university said it will close the program because of low enrollment and low passing rates in board examinations.

However, the groups said the ECE program of UE-Manila was “commendable for it has attained and surpassed the National Passing Rate consistently.”

They also stressed that the closure of the program is “flimsy, unfair and unreasonable” especially to third-year and fourth-year students because it would be hard for them to transfer to another university.

“They expect the institution to still provide them a quality education specializing in electronics and communications. They chose to enroll in UE-Manila owing to the fact that it is closer to their homes and for them to be transferred to UE-Caloocan would put factor, which they had considered from the start, purposeless,” they said.

The groups further argued that support from the administration was needed by the ECE department especially during the pandemic.

“Both ECE faculty and students have endured all the challenges and difficulties when the College of Engineering building was gutted by fire. It has been observed also that some software applications used by the ECE students in relation to programming courses are free to use and can be downloaded in the internet. New equipment and other tools for laboratory courses will not only be used by ECE students only,” they said.