041006: European chamber sets up BPO training center

i.t. matters
Monday April 10, 2006 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES

News

European chamber sets up BPO training center

The European IT Service Center (EITSC), an initiative of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, has put up an information technology training hub aimed at scaling up the human resource base of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

The training center, located at AXA Life Center in Makati City, was inaugurated Thursday night last week.

Dominic Sabado, EITSC executive director, said the hub is an integral part of the agency's P51 million program that plans to produce highly qualified set of workers that companies in the IT and BPO sectors can tap.

"We plan to initially train and provide guidance to the near hires, those who were not employed because they failed to meet a certain requirement. The hub will act as a support facility for them," Mr. Sabado said in a statement.

Furthermore, Mr. Sabado said it will also be for training IT students and providing in-house corporate trainings to give under-skilled fresh graduates and professionals a more competitive career path in the industry.

He said that, right now, various educational institutions in the country cannot provide the manpower needs of the $2-billion BPO industry, composed of the call center, data processing, medical transcription, digital animation and software development.

"The hub is here to help bridge the gap in manpower requirements and the skills needed by those wanting to join the industry. In the call center industry alone, less than 10 percent of applicants get hired," Mr. Sabado said.

By 2010, the BPO industry is expected to generate 1.2 million jobs from present 336,000 jobs created, according to the latest joint forecast from the government and industry group Business Processing Association of the Philippines.

Call centers will remain the largest employer in the next five years, accounting for 431,000 jobs out of the total 1.2 million jobs in 2010. Back office, medical transcription and digital content will follow with 342,000, 69,000 and 46,000 jobs generated in the same year.

Aside from trainings and seminars in soft and technical skills, the hub will also do research studies including the development of new courses that can be integrated in the curriculums of colleges and universities in the country.

Established in 2002, the EITSC is also supported by the German Development Corp. and the Asia-Europe Foundation of the Philippines. -- Maricel E. Estavillo

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