BPO to support 100 scholars a year
Outsourcing company Accenture has allotted $1.26 million or roughly P58 million to send at least 100 students every year to a partner university in Cebu City.
This is a way to help address the lack of skilled manpower in the province, said Manolito T. Tayag, Accenture country managing director.
Tayag said for the project, the firm partnered with Passerelles Numériques (PN), an international non-profit organization that helps alleviate poverty through developmental projects like education for the less fortunate.
The joint project will run for four years. It aims to help disadvantaged young people acquire information technology skills through a three-year vocational program in systems and network Administration, which was formulated by PN with the University of San Carlos in Cebu City.
“This year our first grant amounted to $300,000 which PN will already use for the 69 students already enrolled in USC,” Tayag said.
Aside frrom the financial assistance, Accenture employees will provide professional mentorship.
“Scholars will also participate in the on-the-job training aside from the three year standard curriculum at USC which may not be done in Accenture. The students can do OJT in any of our partner IT companies that we are slowly building up,” said Benoit Genuini, president of PN.
Genuini said they recently opened the Thomas Missonnier Center in barangay Talamban, Cebu City which will serve as a dormitory for the scholars.
“We only have 69 scholars this year but we will be increasing until they reach at least 100 students,” Genuini said.
Genuini said they have agreed with Accenture to offer courses in systems and networks administration because they foresee a demand for these skills in the future with many IT related firms already seeing Cebu as a growth area where they can set up offices.
“If we see another demand trend for other skills, we will also be flexible in the programs that we offer so that we make sure that we produce graduates with the appropriate skills that the industry would require,” he said.
Tayag said that once the scholars graduate, will not be forced to work for Accenture.
“It’s up to them if they want to work in Accenture but we would definitely be willing to have them with us,” he said.
Recently IBM also sealed a partnership with another university in Cebu to produce graduates with the required skills especially with the projected rapid growth in the IT and outsourcing industry.
The program started with 16 scholars this year.
