UP offers Philippines’ 1st doctoral degree in artificial intelligence

August 4, 2022 - 3:45 PM
4790
This image shows the University of the Philippines' Oblation statue. (File Photo, Artwork by James Patrick Cruz)

You can now take artificial intelligence for your doctorate. 

The University of the Philippines Diliman is offering the country’s first doctoral program in artificial intelligence. 

The program focuses on “problem identification and understanding, obtaining a strong familiarity with state-of-the-art solutions, formulation of novel algorithms and techniques, and deployment of suitably advanced and highly reliable AI systems,” according to the Facebook post of the UP Diliman Artificial Intelligence. 

The new core courses offered in the program are Computational Learning Theory, Machine Learning for Sequential Data, Autonomous Robots, and Research Methods. 

According to Kalibrr‘s co-founder Dexter Gordon, the program is a massive deal in the Philippines. 

“When we built our AI team at Kalibirr in 2014, finding AI expertise in the Philippines was extremely difficult,” Gordon said in an online post

He shared that his colleagues from the country had to learn on their own the AI modeling to build the recommendations engine they needed to power their core experiences. 

“The stage is increasingly being set for the tech scene to boom in the PH,” he added. 

An online user also finds the program as “something new and relevant to the times,” urging his children to enroll in the program. 

The program offers three options for students.

Option A is a four-year program for individuals with a bachelor’s degree from a related discipline with a thesis. Under this track, students must complete 62 units, including dissertation units.

Option B is for those with a master’s degree from a related discipline without a thesis. They are required to complete 38 units, including dissertation units.

Option C is for students who have a master’s degree with a thesis from a related discipline. Likewise, they are required to take 38 units, including dissertation units. 

Meanwhile, Options B and C is a three-year program. 

The admissions for Option A applicants are open from August 1 until five in the afternoon of Aug. 15, 2022. 

The class for those who will pass the admission criteria for the program will start on September 5. 

Meanwhile, the university has yet to announce the start of admission and classes for those interested in taking Options B and C.