Specialization training for BA and IT instructors

During the May 2013 summer break, the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (Ibpap) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) organized several specialization training sessions for business administration and information technology (BA and IT) instructors from Cavite State University, Laguna State Polytechnic University and Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Tarlac State University, Batangas State University and Negros Oriental State University.

Undertaken under the so-called Service Management Program (SMP) “specialization tracks,” the sessions themselves were conducted by master trainers from Ibpap’s enabling partners—Asia Pacific College and Aegis Philippines.

Four subjects make up the specialization tracks, namely, service culture, business communication, systems thinking, and fundamentals of business process management (BPM).

Last year’s sessions were held for state universities and colleges (SUCs) through the CHEd’s IT BPM Growth Area Project, with Ibpap as the project’s designated technical expert. However, from the time CHEd Memorandum Order No. 6 and No. 34 were issued by CHEd in 2012, private higher education institutions (HEIs) have been repeatedly expressing serious interest in offering the SMP specialization tracks for their BA and IT students beginning the academic year 2014.

So this summer, from April 21 to 29, Ibpap will be holding similar SMP training sessions in Asia Pacific College at 3 Humabon St., Magallanes Village, Makati City, for private HEIs in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Calabarzon.

For maximum benefit, the training participants should be full-time instructors with at least two years of teaching experience in subjects related to the track they are training for. Instructors in BPM fundamentals or systems thinking should have taught any of the following subjects: quantitative analysis, quantitative methods, business process, business management or IT project management. For service culture, the teaching experience should be in human resource management, management principles or human capacity building.

Just as in the previous training sessions, the participants this summer can expect a lot of innovative approaches to teaching the specialization tracks as well as an unparalleled view of the IT BPM industry from the perspective of industry practitioners themselves.

The CHEd, in close collaboration with Ibpap has developed SMP, specifically, to fine-tune the competencies of BA and IT students for careers in the IT BPM industry.

The industry is relatively young compared to, say, manufacturing or agriculture. However, it now contributes 4 to 5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. In 2013, it hired an estimated 900,000 people for full-time work. On top of that, for every job it generates, about three more indirect jobs are created typically in such areas as transportation and food services. The Philippines has now become a leading global outsourcing destination. This leadership position faces a serious challenge though because the supply and availability of qualified personnel are quickly running low.

Both the CHEd and the national leadership fully recognize the urgent need to address this global competitiveness issue. The IT BPM industry is a priority area in the 2011-2016 Philippine National Development Plan. The CHEd in fact has articulated its strategy of forming cooperative partnerships with industry stakeholders, focusing on competency-building, planning, and sourcing and development of a sustainable talent pool.

Furthermore, SMP takes into consideration “the interrelationships among the functional areas of business… as well as sensitivity to the economic, social, technological, legal and international environment in which the business must operate.” The CHEd emphasizes that “the objective of (SMP) is not simply to impart business knowledge but to develop and nurture, among our students, important skills and qualities that are essential for future business leadership and organizational success in the industry in a global market.”

Meanwhile, the SMP training for SUCs continues this summer. As of this writing, Ibpap’s project management teams have been doing preliminary organizing work for SMP training sessions with BA and IT departments of Carlos Hilado Memorial College, Western Visayas State University, West Visayas College of Science and Technology and Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College.

There’s a lot of work to do in the days ahead, but it’s all going to be worth it. After all, who wouldn’t want our youth to be better prepared for the real world?

(HEIs may register for SMP training or inquire through [email protected]; or get in touch with the office of the CHEd-NCR director Catherine Q. Castañeda at (02) 441-0985 and (02) 441-1224 or Region IV-A director Leonida S. Calagui at (02) 332-3943.)

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In my commentary last Feb. 22 (“28 years later”), I inaccurately mentioned that the Eggie Apostol Foundation commissioned Angela Stuart Santiago for “Chronology of a Revolution” and “Himagsikan sa Edsa: Walang Himala.”

Santiago in fact wrote “Himagsikan” for the Philippine Centennial Literary Contest in 1998 where it received honorable mention in the

Filipino Sanaysay category. Similarly, “Chronology of a Revolution” was already a fully finished book when the Eggie Apostol Foundation chose to publish it as a companion piece to “Looking Back, Looking Forward.”

Butch Hernandez ([email protected]) is the executive director of the Eggie Apostol Foundation and education lead for talent development at Ibpap.