Know your program, your subjects and your exams.

1. BSCSBachelor of Science in Computer Science (CCIS)

   The study of concepts and theories, algorithmic foundations, and the making and use of computing solutions. It prepares researchers and IT professionals who design and build them.

   A ladder: a Certificate after first year, an Associate after second, a Diploma after third, the degree after fourth. Graduates work as researchers, network specialists, systems administrators, systems analysts and instructors.

2. BSITBachelor of Science in Information Technology (CCIS)

   Using computers and software to plan, install, customize, run, manage and maintain IT infrastructure: systems analysis and design, applications development, database and network administration.

   The same ladder: Certificate, Associate, Diploma, then the degree. Graduates work as researchers, IT project managers, information security administrators, instructors and IT entrepreneurs.

3. BSCpEBachelor of Science in Computer Engineering (College of Engineering)

   The study of computer systems, hardware and software together. Graduates go into machine learning, big data, network and software engineering, and mechatronics. Students take yearly qualifying examinations.

4. DICTDiploma in Information Communication Technology (Institute of Technology)

   A three-year practical diploma: software, databases, internet applications, multimedia, hardware and networks. A Certificate after first year, an Associate after second, the Diploma after third.

5. PBDITPost Baccalaureate Diploma in Information Technology (Open University System)

   One year, for graduates of non-computing degrees moving into technology or bringing it into their fields.

6. In shortHow they differ

   BSCS goes deep into theory, algorithms and research. BSIT builds and runs the systems and networks organizations use. BSCpE joins computing with hardware. DICT is a three-year practical diploma, PBDIT a one-year course for degree holders.

   BSCS and BSIT are non-board programs: no licensure examination.

7. Our roleTechnology for national industrialization and national democracy

   PUP's own principles encourage its students to "contribute to the nationalist industrialization and overall socio-economic development of the country".

   The council holds that Filipino scientists and technologists should build what the country needs, for the Filipino masses, not only supply cheap labor to outsourcing and foreign tech firms.

1. NationallyNeoliberal education

   The federation of PUP's student councils calls it "the colonial, repressive, and commercialized educational system", born of a society where "the ruling elite and their foreign cohorts oppress the Filipino people".

   For computing students, it means an education "structured to continuously produce cheap labor" for foreign firms and outsourcing, and costs pushed onto students and their families.

2. In PUP and CCISHow it shows here

   PUP's proposed PHP 12 billion budget was cut to PHP 3 billion. CCIS has PHP 340,000 for 2,833 students in 2026, about PHP 120 each for the year. Only seven laboratories (S501 to S504, S508, S510, S511) serve the departmental examinations of nearly 3,000 students. 30 of 56 faculty members are part-time, and there is one faculty member for every 51 students. Students paid PHP 7.50 to take the departmental examinations.

   Meanwhile, Outcomes-Based Education and the chase after accreditations have brought no new laboratories and no more full-time faculty.

3. What we fight forA nationalist, scientific and mass-oriented education

   Nationalist: it serves our own country's needs and national industrialization. Scientific: free of dogma and myths, built on reason and practice. Mass-oriented: open to every Filipino, serving the many, not the few.

4. How curricula changeThe four-year cohort cycle

   A curriculum is locked for the batch that enters under it, and a batch takes four years to graduate. So PUP revises a curriculum about every four to five years, as with the 2018, 2022 and 2026 curricula.

   When it changes, you stay on the curriculum you entered under.

5. Which one is yoursIn A.Y. 2026 to 2027

   Second to fourth year: the 2022 curriculum, below. First year: the 2026 curriculum, added once the council has a copy.

1. What they areThe departmental examinations

   Exams the college sets for all sections of a subject at once, every midterm and final. CCIS began them in 1996 in place of the battery test, and added hands-on programming finals in 2008.

2. The council's standDecentralize the assessments

   Abolish the centralized departmental examinations and let instructors assess their own classes, by their actual conditions, pace and laboratory capacity.

   Now: drop the PHP 7.50 examination fee, and consult students widely before the next one. In the long run: a higher state subsidy for PUP, more laboratories, regular full-time faculty, and a nationalist, scientific and mass-oriented education.

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