Tuesday, November 28, 2006 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
News
Information and communications technology (ICT) company NEC awarded university scholarships to 16 students yesterday through the NEC Foundation, Inc. as part of a program to improve ICT education.
The scholarships were for ICT-related courses such as computer engineering, computer science, and electronics and communications engineering. Each student will be given up to P76,000 a year for tuition and allowance.
Leonardo Santos, executive vice-president and country manager of NEC Philippines, said giving poor students training in ICT was a unique way to help them improve their conditions. "Engineering and computer science courses enable an immediate shift to higher income levels and a dramatic change in quality of living."
The scholarships were taken from the interest earned by a $1-million grant made by NEC Corp. of Japan in 1986. The company has granted P20 million in scholarships since the program’s inception 20 years ago, with 91 students graduating under the program. The graduates include two postgraduate students with degrees from Stanford University in the United States and a university in the United Kingdom.
NEC Foundation executive director Edgardo Atanacio said that the scholarship program had "no strings attached," with students not being required to work locally or for NEC affiliates after graduation.
Students are selected from a pool of 150 to 170 applicants and chosen by teacher recommendations and scores in the University of the Philippines college admission test, though the students eventually study in schools nationwide.
The company advertises the program in one broadsheet and one tabloid every year. — AEL
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