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August 2007 Free Japanese Lessons

Aug. 16, 2007 The Philippine National IT Foundation (PhilNITS) and the Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS) Japan will conduct a two-week training on Japanese language for IT professionals to be held simultaneously in Manila and Cebu on Oct. 1 to 12, 2007. PhilNITS president Maricor Akol said 40 IT professionals will participate in the training program for both the Manila and Cebu training sites. The training program will be conducted in Japanese language. Akol said the training program is aimed at developing IT professionals as Bridge Systems engineers by teaching them the basic Japanese language and giving participants an understanding of the Japanese way of doing business in order to spur better collaborative work between Japan and the Philippines. There has been a growing demand for graduates of the Bridge Systems Engineer training program in Japan as more Japanese IT companies are seeking business alliances with companies in the Philippines and the Asian countries, said Akol. Out of the 40 participants, 30 IT professionals will be selected for further training in Japan under the Bridge Systems Engineers' program from Feb. 13 to March 18, 2008. Preference will be given to IT professionals who have passed the IT Engineers Examination such as Fundamentals of IT Engineers (FE) and Software Design Engineers (SW). AOTS Japan has been conducting various technical and management training programs for IT professionals in the Asian countries including the Philippines. The Philippines has a mutual recognition agreement with Japan that establishes IT skills standard for IT engineers in the Philippines and allow cross-border movement of highly-qualified technical personnel.

July 2007

An IT delegation led by PhilNITS president Maricor Akol has presented the Philippine's IT human resource development initiative during a recent symposium on global IT human resources development forum held in Tokyo, Japan. Akol, one of the international speakers and panelist, said that the Philippines as an English-speaking country with a population of 89 million and a large pool of IT skilled workers has the potential to become a center for software development. She cited the recent policy by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) putting emphasis on IT education with the introduction of courses in information systems to prepare students to be more productive upon employment. CHED is also planning to give scholarship grants to teachers for training and certification programs. Filipino students have also been encouraged to undergo certification programs of their choice such as PhilNITS, Sun Java, Cisco Systems, Oracle, Microsoft and other organizations. "The government, taking advantage of the strengths of our human resource and the opportunities offered by the phenomenon of a flat world and the global market, has come out with a medium term development plan focusing its efforts on IT and IT-enabled services such as customer contact center, back office processing, software development, medical transcription, animation, engineering design, data transcription, legal transcription, and digital content," said Akol. To address the growing demand for IT-enabled services, Akol said the Philippine government has launched short technical and vocational courses under the Technical and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). Akol said that TESDA is working closely with CHED in coming up with an equivalency system for their competency-based training and ladderized program to give credits to some vocational and technical courses should students pursue their college degree. \ She also presented PhilNITS programs and activities in implementing Japanese IT standards examinations. "We have been helping in the development of IT human resource since 2002, conducting certification exams on Fundamentals of IT Engineering (FE) and Software Design and Development Engineering (SW) that started in April 2007," said Akol. PhilNITS has been going around colleges and universities promoting the FE certification and donating textbooks, sample curriculum and courseware materials plus other review materials to schools nationwide.

April 19, 2007

A total of 130 IT professionals passed the 9th Fundamentals of IT Engineers (FE) certification exams given by the Philippine National IT Standards Foundation (PhilNITS) last April 1, 2007. PhilNITS president Maricor Akol said that the passing rate was 27 percent, the highest so far since the exams started in 2002. 484 examinees took the test. Akol who is also chairperson of the seven-nation IT Professional Examination Council (ITPEC) said the result of the certification exams was unprecedented and could be the highest passing rate in the ITPEC member-countries composed of the Philippines, Maynmar, Malaysia, Mongolia, Vietnam, Thailand and Japan.

The Philnits Advantage

Manila Bulletin February 16, 2007 Business Profiles page B9

Allen Chan Country Manager & Founder, JMS Communications, Inc.

"The benefits of passing the PhilNITS exam were truly unexpected and indirect; none of this would have been possible without PhilNITS."

At the start, Allen was skeptical about the PhilNITS certification exam (formerly JITSE). It was in 2004 that he decided to take the exams after extensive preparations, self-study and review. In order to prepare for the exams, he bought all reviewers and past exams. He wasn't still sure if he could make it.

Taking the PhilNITS exam was a personal challenge. "I took it upon myself and maintained discipline to review and finish all the materials. I was even reading the materials while commuting in the train (LRT) and jeepney."

With his thorough study, diligence in reading the review materials and confidence, Allen passed the exams. "Wow, I did it," was his first reaction upon learning that he passed the exams. The excitement even run high when he was chosen as one of the scholars of AOTS to undergo a training in Japan. Allen started as a trainee at Japan Media Systems (JMS) in Tokyo after undergoing a six-month training in Bridge Software Engineer sponsored by the AOTS of Japan.

His knowledge and skills gave him a tremendous boost to pursue his career. Upon his return from training in Japan and equipped with the knowledge and skills he had learned, Allen was asked by JMS to set up a local IT company to service the requirements of JMS and its clients. Allen's success is just one of the many Filipino IT professionals who passed the PhilNITS exams, a stepping stone to more opportunities and professional growth.

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February 22, 2007 DTI Supports PhilNits Foundation (Manila Bulletin)

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is supporting PhilNITS Foundation's effort in human resource development particularly in training and certification of Filipino IT professionals. Speaking at the recent induction of new members of PhilNITS Society, DTI Undersecretary for Regional Operations Carissa Cruz-Evangelista says that the DTI will support PhilNITS expansion program in other key cities in Mindanao to help increase the number of IT professionals who are interested to take the certification exams and training programs. PhilNITS President Maricor Akol has expressed thanks to the Department of Trade & Industry for its continued support in the activities and programs of PhilNITS particularly in its certification examinations. Akol has also cited DTI Undersecretary Carissa Cruz-Evangelista for her continued support to PhilNITS Foundation during the recent the induction of new members of the PhilNITS Society, an organization of successful IT professionals and engineers who passed the PhilNITS certification exams.

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