UPCAT scrapped for third straight year
University of the Philippines Diliman campus on July 20, 2017
The University of the Philippines has suspended the UP College Admission Test (UPCAT) for incoming freshmen in the 2023-2024 academic year. This is the third consecutive year that the UPCAT has been scrapped as a basis for admission into the country’s premiere state university.
De los Reyes confirms that the proposal to cancel this year’s UPCAT has received universal support from the university councils of the eight UP member units of Baguio, Cebu, Diliman, Los Baos, Manila, Mindanao, Open University, and Visayas.
In the past, the UP Office of Admissions suggested that the annual admission test be put on hold once more due to worries about the state of the public health.
De los Reyes claimed that the university faces logistical difficulties in safeguarding the safety and wellbeing of the estimated 100,000 candidates and the 1,600 test administrators around the country.
The COVID-19 pandemic also caused the UPCAT to be suspended in 2020 and 2021.
With this, UP will retain the UP College Applications (UPCA), an admission score model for assessing student applicants. UPCA was first used in 2020, the same year UPCAT was suspended due to health restrictions posed by the pandemic.
