Latest News

To provide a continuous supply of competent and qualified workers for the country’s booming business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, the Department of Science and Technology, through its Information and Communication Technology Office, will be offering free training modules that will assess and improve the skills of would-be BPO professionals. One of the programs that will be launched is an online and CD-based training tool designed to help potential employees prepare themselves to be part of the BPO workforce. The program is also meant to improve the current average hiring rate in the industry, which the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) placed at only five percent.

During the recent International Outsourcing Summit, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said that education and capacity-building were on top of the DOST’s agenda for the BPO industry. Recently, the Department of Budget and Management set aside P500 million for the BPO industry, which according to BPAP will be used for the “train the trainer” and faculty development programs. Meanwhile, to further hone local talents, Aegis People Support Inc. is planning to set up its Global Academy here. The firm said they are now in negotiations with the Cebu City Government to put up the Aegis Global Academy at the South Road Properties.

Aegis Limited managing director and global chief executive officer Aparup Sengupta said they are now identifying the target market for the academy as well as the kind of curriculum they plan to offer. According to its website, Aegis Global Academy flagship institute, the Institute of Customer Experience Management (ICEM) is the first to offer an MBA equivalent program focused on customer experience management and “customer-centricity” catered to the services industry. Sengupta said the program will help the industry address its workforce requirement. He earlier said the pool of local talents in major cities is slowly drying up. Rep. Tomas Osmena (Cebu City, second district), meanwhile, lauded the efforts of the company in helping Cebu cope with the demands of the industry.

Osmeña said that if the University of the Philippines-Cebu will not set up its MBA facility at the SRP this year, there is a possibility the SRP management might take back the five-hectare lot it donated. Osmena said the UP Cebu-SRP contract will expire this year. “This is not just a piece of paper. Education for undergraduates to get higher courses has to be planned carefully as this would open the gates of human resource development. However, programs like this should be sustainable,” Osmeña said.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu