Vol. XXII, No. 14 [ BusinessWorld Onlin ]
Thursday, August 14, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
THE GOVERNMENT and the local outsourcing industry will develop a curriculum designed to ensure a stable supply of professionals well-trained to keep this sector competitive.
The Commission on Information Communications and Technology (CICT) and the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) last August 7 signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a service science management and engineering (SSME) curriculum for both state and private schools.
SSME expert Guido G. M. Dedene said the curriculum "is a call for the academe, industry, governments and R&D [research and development] institutes to focus on becoming more systematic about innovation, specifically in the services sector."
This "is the largest sector in industrialized nations and many emerging economies," the Belgian university professor told reporters yesterday.
According to the 2008 first quarter report of the National Statistical Coordination Board, the service sector continues to drive the Philippine economy, accounting for 49.4% of the country’s gross domestic product.
"The global IT-enabled service industry is huge, estimated to be between $450 billion to $1 trillion, and only less than 15% has been off-shored [sic] so far," BPA/P Chief Executive Officer Oscar R. Sañez said in a separate interview.
"The Philippines can be a global leader in this industry because of our superior and sustainable pool of talent and attractive cost structure. We also have a strong telecom infrastructure and strong government support," he added.
"The key investment that we need to continue to support is education. It’s only in sustaining our quality of labor pool that we will be able to attract more investments and win in this global industry."
For his part, CICT Chairman Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III said in a statement: "We all know the significant role that education plays in maintaining the competitiveness of our work force, particularly in the ICT and ICT-enabled services sectors.
"If we want to maintain our edge in the global market, SSME provides us the right tools and framework to make this goal a reality." — P. L. G. Montecillo
______________________________________________________________
