IBM grant helps enhance business software education in UP

MANILA, Philippines - The local office of IBM announced it has connected the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman to one of its hubs in the United States, allowing students to acquire proficiency in various business software languages. IBM’s “mainframe access grant" will allow the newly-built IDEA (Information Systems Design, Education and Applications) laboratory of the Department of Industrial Engineering at the UP College of Engineering to connect directly to Marist College in Poughkeepsie in New York. With the partnership, UP now will become part of the IBM’s global System z Academic Initiative (zAI), a program that “connects the mainframe community with academia," the first such zAI program implementation in the Philippines. The mainframe-specific zAI project is part of a larger IBM Academic Initiative, which offers a wide range of technology education based on IBM technology. Dr. Aura Matias, former chairperson of the Department of Industrial Engineering and head of the IDEA laboratory project, said the program is a big help to the students. “Since the University does not have the funds to purchase the software, connectivity to any mainframe system is our alternative. Technical support and capability building opportunities through IBM’s academic alliance programs will be essential to help sustain the program," Matias said. UP’s IDEA laboratory was conceived to address the growing need for information systems designers and specialists with hands-on training in business information systems software languages like Cobol, Java, DB2, Websphere, and other programming languages. With the combined efforts of the Engineering Sciences, Computer Science, and Industrial Engineering departments of the UP College of Engineering, a three-semester IT special track has been developed for students who are keen on pursuing an IT career. For his part, James Velasquez, country general manager of IBM Philippines, said the company is responding to the market demand worldwide and in the country in creating and investing in academic programs. The US-based tech firm said it has reached a milestone of 400 colleges and universities worldwide participating in the “Mainframe Skills" program. This has jumped from just 24 colleges and universities in 2004 with now nearly 50,000 students completing mainframe training, it added. - GMANews.TV