Who is eligible to graduate with Honors?

Modified on Tue, 17 Oct, 2023 at 9:34 PM

If upon graduating you have an exemplary weighted average grade (GWA), you may be eligible to graduate with Honors. See https://registrar.upou.edu.ph/graduation-with-honors/ for details on the requirements for Honors.

Please note that if you are found guilty of academic dishonesty by the University, you may be disqualified from graduating with Honors.

How is my eligibility assessed?

If your GWA satisfies the requirements for Honors as described above, your case will automatically go through a series of reviews, starting from an Honors and Awards committee at the FICS all the way to a review body at the UP System. It is a long process involving multiple committees at various levels. Generally speaking, your eligibility for Honors will be assessed using the following rubric:

GWA	Have you completed your courses and achieved the following minimum GWA in order to qualify for graduation with honors:? With Honors: 1.75 With High Honors: 1.45 With Highest Honors: 1.20
Required No. of Units	Have you obtained at least 75% of the units of your program from UPOU?
Transfer of Credits (TOC)	Do you have transferred credits not exceeding 25% of the total number of units required for the program?
Underload	Have you at any point enrolled in an underloaded term? If so, have you submitted a written letter to the Dean to justify the underloading during the said term, which has been duly noted by the Program Chair? (Details for how to submit a letter to the Dean via the Program Chair are described below.)
Health Reasons	If the cause of an underloaded term was due to health reasons, do you have a medical certification from a government health facility that was made during that particular term?
Unavailability of Courses	If the cause of the underloaded term was due to the unavailability of courses, do you have an updated plan of study certified by the Program Chair?
Employment	If the cause of the underloaded term is employment during that particular term, do you have any one of the following: Certificate of employment Copy of payroll/salary slip Appointment paper

What are justifiable reasons for underloading by Honors candidates?

While ASIT students can underload whenever they wish within the limits of their MRR, students running for Honors must have completed at least a normal course load during every term in which they were registered.

If you are running for Honors and underloaded a term at any time in the past or are intending to underload this term, the underloading must be due to any of the three justifiable reasons listed in https://registrar.upou.edu.ph/graduation-with-honors/ Please note that lack of funds is, unfortunately, not a justifiable reason for underloading.

If you are running for Honors and you have to underload because a course that you need isn't available for a given term, it is advisable that you try to take a full course load anyway. For instance, you can do any of the following:

enroll another course that you might need;
attempt to cross-enroll subjects in another UP campus unit; or
attempt to petition for the course to be offered.
In extreme circumstances when absolutely none of the above options work, file a ticket and submit your updated Plan of Study and discuss the possibility of taking an enrichment course. It is generally not recommended to take courses for enrichment, particularly since enrichment courses do not contribute to your GWA. It is also currently not clear how a term that uses an enrichment course only as a strategy to make up a full load will be evaluated by Honors and Awards Committees.

What should I do if I am running for Honors but have a justifiably underloaded term? Filing your evidence for justifiable underloading

If you are running for Honors but have a justifiably underloaded term, you must do the following:

Prepare your evidence related to your reasons for underloading during that term as described in https://registrar.upou.edu.ph/graduation-with-honors/.
- For health reasons:
  - medical certification to be confirmed by the University Health Service, or a medical certificate from a government health facility
- For unavailability of courses:
  - an account explaining why you could not have taken a full course load due to unavailability of courses (this will be later reviewed and certified by the ASIT Program Chair and other members of the FICS Honors and Awards Committee)
  - a copy of the term's current schedule of classes
- For employment:
  - copy of payroll and/or appointment papers and/or employer's certificate providing proof of the following:
    - the nature of your work
    - the duration of employment
    - the number of hours per week spent on your work
Write a letter addressed to the FICS Dean (and sent through the Program Chair to justify your underloading during that term. The addressee information section should take on the following format:

(TITLE AND NAME OF CURRENT DEAN)
Faculty of Information and Communication Studies
UP Open University

THROUGH: The ASIT Program Chair
File a new ticket or respond to an existing ticket related to your concern with the phrase "Honors" somewhere in the subject line, and include the following:
- The evidence from step 1; and
- Your letter to the Dean from step 3
- A statement regarding which terms are covered in your submitted evidence
Wait for the Program Chair to acknowledge receipt of your letter. If the Program Chair deems your reason justifiable, they will note your letter and forward it to the Dean's Office. The Program Chair will also provide you a copy of the endorsed letter.
Archive all of the documents regarding your case in the ASIT Justification for Underloading Archive Form. This is an important step that you must not skip.

Documentation provided must cover each of the terms during which you were underloaded.

When should I file my evidence for justifiable underloading?

While you can file your evidence for justifiable underloading at any time before you graduate, we recommend that you compile the documentation for the term that you were underloaded during that term or soon thereafter.

In a nutshell, it's better for you to file evidence for justifiable underloading at the start of every term you will underload.

Do not wait too long to compile your documentation because you may not be able to remember and convincingly argue the reasons you underloaded.

Courses from outside UPOU

There is a maximum allowable number of units you can cross-enroll in from another UP campus unit or have transferred from a previous institution for you to qualify for Honors. 75% of your units should have come from UPOU.

Courses from the AA program

If you are a graduate of the AA program, please note that your grades and your course loading history from your time as an AA student may be taken into account when evaluating your eligibility for Honors. Specifically, note the following:

Grades from all GE, Common, and Mandatory courses taken in AA will be included in the computation of the GWA.
Only terms in AA with courses credited towards the Bachelor’s program will be evaluated for underloading. The number of units enrolled during the time these GE courses were taken will be included in the evaluation.

Will a failing grade in the past disqualify me from Honors?

No. Only the criteria discussed above matter. However, receiving a failing grade can reduce your chances of achieving a GWA that qualifies you for Honors.

Will receiving an unofficial DRP in a course result in the term be considered underloaded?

Yes. If you underload in subsequent terms, having a DRP grade in a previous term may complicate the assessment of your eligibility for Honors.