There was a Memorandum Order from CHED early last year that invited units that handle Student Formation, Welfare, and Services to adhere to the new “Guidelines on the Implementation of Flexible Delivery of Student Affairs and Services (SAS) Programs during the Covid-19 Pandemic.” This CMO highlights the need to boost extracurricular student support especially since the initial efforts to preserve higher education at the start of the pandemic was concentrated on safeguarding online instruction and empowering the academic units.
Given this, the AIM Office was further encouraged to continue its hosting of extracurricular activities for our International Students this semester, and further innovate what we can do with these virtual spaces for interaction and dialogue. Hence, the AIM Office hosted an International Students’ Virtual Orientation on 10 July 2021 (Saturday) at 02:00 PM. The goal was to welcome the set of international students we had for the academic year—new and current enrollees alike. This activity informed the students of the university policies and student services available to them, as well as fostered a support system within their own community as international students, which CMO No. 8-2021 highly recommended.