SFAD organizes orientation for SA supervisors

With the goal of raising awareness about the Student Assistantship (SA) program and to address questions about the program, the Scholarships and Financial Assistance Division (SFAD) conducted an orientation for the SA supervisors.

SA program coordinator Noemi Nuñez, facilitated the orientation. She discussed how the supervisors can request for SAs, the qualifications for being an SA, the maximum number of work hours, and other guidelines of the program.

The offices can request for SAs by visiting the request URL and entering the password given by SFAD every semester. After generating request form 3a, it should be submitted to SFAD window 1.

The Implementing Rules and Regulations on the qualifications of the student assistants state that the student must be a Filipino citizen, enrolled in 15 units in the current semester, and is in good academic standing from the previous semester as certified by the College Secretary. The student must not have any ongoing student disciplinary case or has not been previously found guilty of any offense. Any grade of 5.0 or Drop from the preceding semester must be justified by the student and supervisor to agree that the hiring will not affect the studies of the student in the current semester.

The supervisors were advised to pay attention to the work hours of the SAs. Their work hours per month will depend on their registered academic load for the semester. Work schedule should also not conflict with the SA's class schedule.

Other guidelines of the program include the following: the duties of the SA must be specific and agreed upon by both parties upon the start of the appointment; SAs should not perform tasks outside the campus, tasks for purposes of meeting private personal needs, and tasks in relation to quizzes, exercise, and examinations.

An open forum followed the discussion. One of the questions raised was if the SA can start working before he/she has finished the application process. It was clarified that the SAs should only start working upon date of effectivity of his/her appointment. The supervisor and the SA will receive a text message about the date of effectivity of the appointment.

Associate Professor Nenita Lalican said that the orientation was helpful for the supervisors. "At least malinaw ang role ng bawat isa, role ng SA at role ng supervisor," she said. (At least the role of everyone was made clear: the role of the student assistant and the role of the supervisor.)

The orientations were conducted from January to March 2015.