POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

In partial requirement for the subject

The Contemporary World

The Impact of Globalization to the Academic

Calendar in Metro Manila

Submitted By:
Villaverde, Jeremy P.

Submitted To:
Mr. John Paolo C. Dalupang
Subject Teacher

October 12, 2018

I. Introduction:
With ASEAN integration in 2015 creating new opportunities to internationalize their
campuses and the K-12 education system severely affecting college enrollment in 2016,
Philippine institutions are feeling the pressure to shift their academic calendars (Severino,
2014). Since the school year 1965-1966, most schools in the Philippines start their classes on
the month of June towards the end of the month of March in accordance to the Republic Act
No. 4116. At present time, due to the fact that the fellow ASEAN members open their
respective school classes not earlier than August, Philippine is on state of confusion whether
to synchronize the academic calendar of our country to the neighboring Southeast Asian
countries.
This also raises the issue when Senator Francis Escudero, chair of the Senate
education committee, filed Senate Bill 1432, seeking to mandate that all public and private
schools start their school year on the second Monday of August but not later than the second
Monday of September (Elemia, 2017). Meanwhile in Metro Manila, some universities have
started moving their academic calendar in order to align themselves with foreign counterparts.
Due to the fact that these universities considered as autonomous, they can independently
adopt to the change without any directive from CHED, which is an institution that covers both
public and private higher education in the country.
Studying the impact or the effect of globalization to the academic calendar of the
Philippines particularly in Metro Manila gave me a motivation because I want to know whether
this change in the system will be favorable to our country and also, to be aware of the factors
of globalization that influence the synchronization of the academic calendar. This also
stimulates my interest since I am one of the students of our country and the one that will surely
directly affects this shifting will be us, the students and also our professors.
I. Statement of the Research Problem

A. General Problem
The study aims to determine the impact of globalization to the academic calendar in
Metro Manila.

B. Specific Problems
The following questions are the specific problems vital in answering the general
statement above:
1. How does globalization affect the academic calendar of schools in Metro Manila?
2. What are the schools in Metro Manila started aligning their respective academic
calendar with fellow ASEAN members?
3. Why do they shift their academic calendar or what are the factors of globalization or
considerations that captivate them to shift their academic calendar to international
school calendar?

II. Scope and Delimitation

The research focuses on the impact of globalization to the academic calendar of

schools in Metro Manila. The study examines the factors of globalization that drive these
schools to change their academic calendar. This also includes the cultural setting of our
country that also serves as a factor. The factors of globalization were gathered and inferred
from the articles or secondary data coming from the reliable sources in the internet.

III. Literature Review and Conceptual Framework

Conceptual Framework
The schools in Metro Manila will be evaluated and examined using the different factors
of globalization in order to know and realize the impact of globalization to its academic
calendar. By using the secondary data that came from the reliable sources in the internet, the
data will be analyzed using thematic analysis to state or to find the relationship between the
factors.

INDEPENDENT PROCESS DEPENDENT

VARIABLE VARIABLE
Secondary
Schools Data Impact of
in Factors of Globalization Gathering Globalization
Metro to the
Manila Thematic Academic
Global Climatic pattern Calendar
Analysis

Related Literature
With ASEAN integration in 2015 creating new opportunities to internationalize their
campuses and the K-12 education system severely affecting college enrollment in 2016,
Philippine institutions are feeling the pressure to shift their academic calendars. The
Philippines is also the only member of the ASEAN still starting its academic calendar year in
June, since Thailand adopted the September-May calendar in 2011 (Severino, 2014).
Geronimo (2013) stated that member-states of ASEAN envisioned ASEAN University.
She had listed key issues that the country’s higher education must address as part of the
integration. One of the spotlights is the synchronization of academic calendar. This will
provides for a greater student and faculty mobility in the means of exchange program and will
also contributes to the collaboration in research and extension.
Furthermore, in the news article by Pacete (2015) entitled “ASEAN Integration and K-12
program”, this was reiterated by Sen. Miriam Santiago that “synchronization of the academic
calendar of the Philippine universities with most Asean, European, and American academic
partner will create joint programs and partnerships with other universities and allow students to
get transfer credits from different universities in the Asean.”
Meanwhile, according to Salano (2014) on her news article entitled “Infographic: The
Pros and Cons of the academic calendar shift in PH”, top universities in the Philippines have
announced that they shall shift their academic calendar schedules from June to March to
August to May, in line with the goal of producing globally competitive students and to have
more internationalized education standards.
 Ateneo de Manila University and the University of the Philippines said that the aligning
the schedule with overseas partners ensured that their graduates will have a global outlook
and global competencies towards resolving global concerns. The president of Adamson
University, Father Gregorio Bañaga has also announced the plan to start their academic year
in August. He stated that implementing the change will make it easier for students from
overseas institutions to enroll (GMA News, 2014).
Albia (2017) in her study entitled “Understanding regionalization in Philippine Higher
Education, she stated that the regionalization in education means increasing collaboration
among neighboring nation. The findings of her study showed that it functions as an opportunity
for expanding partnerships, institutional niches and programmatic initiatives.

In terms of climatic perception towards the calendar shift, Villafuerte, Juanillo and Hilario
(2017) in their study entitled “Climatic Insights on Academic Calendar Shift in the Philippines”,
stated that the new AC (August-May) has a fewer rainy season school days and reduced
number of possible tropical cyclone-related suspensions.

IV. Methodology
For the purposes of this research, secondary data were used. The data that were
gathered are primarily composed of news article, publication and a study. Furthermore, these
data concentrates on the factors and as well as the impact of globalization to the academic
calendar in the Philippines particularly in Metro Manila. The data that were gathered were most
likely published not later than 5 years. In addition, they were assured to be collected from the
reliable sources. The secondary data have been collected to cover every aspect of the
research regarding with the topic.
V. Data Gathered and Summary of Results
Key Findings

- Greater student and

faculty mobility
- Collaboration in
research and extension SHIFT IN
TOP
- Globally competitive ACADEMIC
UNIVERSITIES
students CALENDAR
- Expanding the
partnerships
- Climatic insights
VI. Data Analysis

TOP
UNIVERSITIES

Thematic Analysis Map

The findings that were inferred from the data that were gathered are then categorized
using thematic analysis. Using this, the findings are classified according to their relationship
with each other. The two themes namely the global factors and climatic patterns are the factors
of globalization that served as the basis of shifting in academic calendar of top universities in
Metro Manila. The codes or the findings are then arranged into its specific themes.
Using the thematic analysis map above, it can be interpreted how globalization caused
the idea of synchronization and integration of the member-states of ASEAN. With the ASEAN
integration that takes place in 2015, it leads to the synchronization of the academic calendar.
More roughly the primary findings showed that the reason why the shifting of academic
calendar occurred is because of the global factors. These are the various reasons why the top
universities in the Metro Manila are decided to shift the academic calendar. One of the reasons
is that it gives greater student and faculty mobility through the means of exchange program.
With that it leads to more opportunities for students and faculty abroad. And eventually
promote globally competitive students. Also, it will promote collaboration in research and
extension since the Philippines is lagging behind from the other countries in terms of scientific
research and development. And lastly, it will expand the partnership with the ASEAN members
that will further strengthen the linkages of the leading universities and institutions.
In addition, the secondary reason why the shift in academic calendar occurred is the
climatic pattern of the Philippines. The start of rainy season in the Philippines begins in June.
And it associated with heavy rainfall events. Thus, the academic calendar shift will somehow
cut the number of suspensions due to the related events.
VII. Summary of Findings and Conclusions

Because of ASEAN integration, top universities in Metro Manila such as University of

the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila University have started to shift their academic calendar
from June-March to August-May as part of the blueprint to achieve regional integration. This
allows its member-countries to join in the free flow of capital, labour, services, goods, and
foreign investments. Since these top universities are considered autonomous, they can
independently adopt to the change without express approval from CHED. Findings showed
that making the academic calendar parallel to ASEAN member-countries encourage more
student exchange program that will eventually promote globally competitive students. This will
also encourage collaborative research and extension that will somehow resolve the slow-
paced progress in research and development. Furthermore, it will expand the partnership with
the ASEAN leading universities and institutions. Additionally, synchronization of academic
calendar with ASEAN member-states will somehow cut tropical cyclone-related suspensions
that hamper the learning of the students.

The research showed the impact of globalization in the academic calendar in Metro
Manila particularly the top universities in Metro Manila. It exhibits how globalization be the
driving force that leads to the shift in academic calendar from June to March to August to May.
The current findings reported in this research provide significant insights on what are the
factors of globalization that pushed the said universities to shift their academic calendar.
Bibliography

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