A STUDENT group in the University of the East-Manila, together with some alumni, has filed a new petition calling for the continuation of the university’s Electronics Engineering Program.

The Engineering Student Council requested a dialogue with the UE Board of Trustees, Engineering Dean Florante Magnaye and the ECE professors regarding the impending closure of the degree program.

ESC said the removal of the ECE program “adds to the bad image of the university” which can contribute to the continuous decline in enrollees.

“The issue about the Electronics Engineering Program is contemplative of not just the ECE, but also the other programs in the university. It is the problem and negligence of the UE Administration in maintaining the number of students that we should blame, and not the ECE department nor its students,” ESC said in a letter to UE President Ester Garcia.

“The UE Administration continues to disappoint its students, and those who envision UE as their dream university,” it said.

Last week, Garcia said the closure of the program is based on “valid and existing grounds.”

She added that the program’s passing percentage in ECE boards for the last 10 years yielded “only an average result and always lower than the national passing rate.”

She reiterated that UE was forced to discontinue the program as “the university will have to spend a considerable amount” of money on new tools and equipment following the fire that gutted that Engineering building in 2016.

However, the student body claimed that the ECE program was “commendable for it has attained and surpassed the National Passing Rate consistently.”