UST stormwater drainage project almost complete DoST-SEI statement on scholars’ stipends
The Thomasian community was greeted with good news on the first day of December when the University of Santo Tomas (UST) announced that its stormwater drainage flood mitigation project is nearing completion.
Facilities Management Office director Fr. Dexter Austria, O.P., posted on Facebook: “Storm drainage improvement for UST España campus at 75 percent completion rate. Flood-free UST? Keeping our fingers crossed.”
The university has been suffering from flooding in its Manila campus during heavy rains and typhoons. The project was undertaken in 2018 and was expected to finish in 15 months or 450 calendar days.
“The project will replace the existing drainage lines with a new drainage system and provide detention facilities to accommodate flood water within the 21.5-hectare campus. The improvement is being done as a response to the restrictions posed by the current system and the observed increase in rain and flood waters plaguing the campus during the rainy season,” said the 2018 article on the project published on the university’s website.
The Department of Science and Technology-Science Education (DoST-SEI) issued a statement to assure its present and incoming scholars of its commitment to provide for their stipends.
In a statement released on 4 December, DoST-SEI said that upon consultation with various universities under the National Science Consortium (NSC), it revisited existing policies to see if they can “revise if possible” to help them cope with the pandemic.
“In particular, we are looking at ways to help our scholars receive funding in a more timely manner given the adjustments and concessions that universities have had to undertake in the wake of the pandemic. We are also revisiting our policies on the disbursement of funds so as to better provide for their needs above and beyond the demands of the classroom — an urgent concern, given how many of them have been thrust into the thick of research early in their programs,” the statement read.
The stipends for current undergraduate and graduate scholars have been released in full “in the latter half of this year” while they are working for the “prompt release” for the new scholars “within the coming months.”
In March, the DoST-SEI announced that a total of 9,788 graduating senior high schools would get their scholarships. A total of 5,917 qualified under the RA 7687 Scholarship Program, which provide for academically talented students who belong to economically disadvantaged families; while 3,871 qualified under the DoST-SEI Merit Scholarship Program.
The new S&T scholars will receive a monthly stipend at P7,000, tuition fee subsidy up toP40,000 per academic year for those who are enrolled in private universities and colleges; book allowance; MS/PE clothing allowance (one-time only); one economy-class roundtrip fare per year for those studying outside of their home province; outright thesis allowance; and group accident insurance.