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December 22, 2005 Filipino Heads IT Council
The city government of Makati has cited Maricor Akol, President of the Philippine National IT Standars Foundation (PhilNITS) for having been chosen as the first chairperson of the seven-nation Information Technology Professional Examination Council (ITPEC).
Nov. 25, 2005 Seven countries
Seven countries have established the Information Technology Professional Examination Council (ITPEC) to coordinate the implementation of the Information Technology Engineers' Examination (ITEE) in Asia during the first Information Technology Engineers' Examination conference held in Yokohama, Japan.
Maricor Akol, president of the Philippine National IT Standards Foundation (PhilNITS) who represented the Philippines was elected the first chairperson of IPEC composed of Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines. The other members of the Philippine delegation who attended the conference were PhilNITS vice president for operations Peter Que, PhilNITS for finance Shinichiro Kato and Victor Gruet, chair, board of examiners. "The creation of the council is aimed at ensuring that the ITEE examinations and qualifications are maintained at highest standards and credibility, thus, making it a certified IT qualification of choice," said Akol. In the spirit of solidarity and common good, the council would also work for common curriculum, questions and dates in implementing ITEE examinations, achieve international recognition of ITEE standards, and establish a common ITEE system, Akol added.
The conference was organized by the Association of Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS) in coopration with Japan Information Technology Engineers Examination Center (JITEC) held at the AOTS Yokohama Kenshu Center. Yeong Chooi May, assistant manager of the Multimedia Technology Enahncement Operations Sdn Bhd (METEOR) was elected ITPEC vice chairperson to assist Akol.
AOTS, one of the sponsoring organizations that provide regular training for IT professionals worldwide has informed the delegates of the various training programs that include industrial human resource development (HRD) for the private sector, industrial structure improvement (ISI) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Akol said that JITEC has added a new examination category for professionals called "Technical Engineer, Information Security (SV)" for vendors that will start in April 2006, while retaining the Technical Engineers Information Security (SU) for users formally called SS. During the three-day conference, each country except Mongolia has informed the delegates on the plans, problems and future prospects in implementing ITEE and AOTS-sponsored IT training programs. Akol said the conference concluded that the issues and problems raised by each country can be resolved and minimized collectively. A survey conducted by AOTS showed that the AOTS training program is effective in IT skills upgrading and career development but there is a need to promote ITEE to encourage more examinees.
October 15, 2006 CEU is PhilNITS certified partner
The Philippine National IT Standards Foundation (PhilNITS) has recognized Centro Escolar University (CEU) as a certified academic partner in adopting and implementing PhilNITS standards as their IT curriculum. Signing the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) are Dean Conrado Inigo, Jr. of CEU and Philnits President Maricor Akol.
April 27, 2005 Removal Exams
The Philippine National IT Standards Foundation (PhilNITS will allow examinees who failed in the previous Japanese IT standard exams to take the removal exams. PhilNITS president Maricor Akol said that the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan has approved PhilNITS' request that examinees who failed either in the afternoon or morning exams be allowed to take it again. "The removal examination is intended to increase the number of PhilNITS-certified professionals in order to meet the increasing demand in both the Japanese and local markets," said Akol.
Only those who took the exams in April and October 2004 are allowed to take the removal exams scheduled on May 22, 2005. Last year, the passing rate was 19.5 percent out of the 251 examinees who took the exams, the highest so far since the JITSE exams started in 2002 and is comparable in performance rating with that of Japan. PhilNITS-certified professionals are in demand by Japanese companies in the Philippines and Japan. Akol said that several Japanese companies based in Tokyo have requested PhilNITS to supply them with PhilNITS-certified IT professionals.
The companies mentioned were Shinwa Management Systems Ltd., Mecprego Corp., Proskills and Atom Net. PhilNITS has been notified of the openings for at least 200 PhilNITS-certified IT professionals. "In fact, a Japanese-owned outsourcing company (NSOV) will be formally opened on April 29 with at least 10 presidents of member-companies of Atom Net coming to Manila to attend the inauguration," said Akol.
April 15 2005 PhilNITS Extends Registration for exam to May 10
The registration for the Japanese IT standard examinations scheduled on May 22 is extended. PhilNITS president Maricor Akol said the extended registration will allow interested IT programmers and professionals to take the certification exams.
The next examination is set on October 10, 2005. Akol has urged prospective examinees to continue their preparation and review for the exams. Review materials and copies of previous exams are available at the PhilNITS office, 3rd floor, Oppen Bldg., Sen Gil Puyat Ave. in Makati City.
The exams will be held in the following examination centers: Manila, Baguio, Tanauan in Batangas, Cebu, Davao and Zamboanga. Akol expects more applicants to take the May 22 exams following last year's passing rate of 19.5 percent, the highest so far since the certification exams started in 2001.
An applicant should have a knowledge in any of the four programming languages such as Assembler, C, COBOL or Java. There will be no age limit or college degree required for all applicants. Now on its fourth year of operation, PhilNITS has already produced 187 PhilNITS-certified IT engineers and professionalsfrom a pool of 1,672 examinees.
PhilNITS' certification program has been donated by the Japanese government to the Philippines – the objective of which is to set a common standard in the Asean region to measure the competency of IT engineers and professionals on the fundamentals of IT. Formerly known as Japanese IT Standard Exams of the Philippines certificate, PhilNITS was recognized by the Bureau of Products Standards (BPS) with registry no. PNS 2030:2003.
Akol said the PhilNITS certificate is equivalent to those implemented by the Institute for the Certification of Computing Professionals (ICCP) of the US and European Computer Driving License of Europe.
April 7, 2005 More IT programmers and professionals are expected to take the Japanese IT standards examinations
(JITSE) scheduled on May 22 and October 10 to be held in six examination centers throughout the country. Maricor Akol, president of the Philippine National IT Standards Foundation (PhilNITS) has appealed to prospective examinees to start preparing for the exams.
Review materials and copies of previous exams are available at the PhilNITS office, 3rd floor, Oppen Bldg., Sen Gil Puyat Ave. in Makati City. The exams will be held in the following examination centers: Manila, Baguio, Tanauan in Batangas, Cebu, Davao and Zamboanga.
An applicant should have a knowledge in any of the four programming languages such as Assembler, C, COBOL or Java. There will be no age limit or college degree required for all applicants.
Successful applicants are assured of working visas for one to three years in Japan aside from the growing demand for PhilNITS-certified IT professionals from Japanese companies operating in the Philippines. Most Japanese companies in the Philippines and abroad like Atom Net, a Tokyo-based group of small and medium-sized Japanese companies are hiring PhilNITS-certified Filipinoprogrammers and IT engineers.
The Japanese IT industry is in need of more than 1.4 million IT engineers, programmers, IT professionals and knowledge-based workers based on a survey conducted by the Japanese government. The Japanese embassy in Manila has substantially eased the restrictions for working visas of IT professionals interested to work in Japan. The processing of working visas for JITSE-certified professionals will be expedited by the Japanese embassy.
PhilNITS Foundation, formerly JITSE Phil Foundation, is now in its fourth year in implementing the certification program for IT engineers and professionals. It has a mutual recognition agreement(MRA) with Japan Information Technology Engineers’ Examination Center (JITEC) of the Information Technology Promotion Agency, Japan. So far, PhilNITS has produced 187 PhilNITS-certified IT engineers from a pool of 1,624 examinees.
Interested applicants can access the PhilNITS website – www.jitse.org or call the following review centers: Nova Computer College (Tel. 371-5951), Proskils Foundation, Inc. (Tel. 742-4908) or PhilNITS Office (Tel. 898-2691 to 92).
March 29, 2005 Offshoring is key to improve Philippine competitiveness
The Philippines should accelerate the promotion of business process outsourcing to help improve the country's competitiveness. “We have to further improve our infrastructure to facilitate both domestic and international trade, enhance human resource development particularly for IT engineers and professionals,” says Maricor Akol, president of the Philippine National IT Standards Foundation, Inc.(PhilNITS).
Speaking before the recent Computer Science Congress sponsored by the La Salle Computer Society at the De La Salle University, Akol stressed the need for close cooperation among the academe, industry and government in developing the IT industry. “The need to establish mutual trust and confidence between the offshore vendor and its customers based on proven results is important in building and promoting offshoring,” says Akol. “The offshore vendor should provide a quality and high performance in IT project management capability as well as excellent IT professionals at low costs.” Akol says that this could be achieved through a continuing world-class IT training and certification program for IT engineers and professionals. “IT professionals' training should include not only technical training but should also have values formation training to produce IT workers with good work attitudes and sense of responsibility and consistency in spite of the difficulties encountered in the strenuous and time-conscious IT workplace.”
The Philippine National IT Standards Foundation (PhilNITS), formerly the Japan IT Standard Examination Foundation (JITSE) is committed in promoting the country's IT certification program towards economic development. Akol also underscored the importance of information and communications technology (ICT) in boosting the efficiency of the increasingly integrated global economy. ICT would enable the Philippines and developing countries to improve their resource allocations and also boost economic growth, Akol added. She cited some of the areas where the Philippines has the competitive advantage aside from offshoring include contact centers, application development and maintenance, legal and medical transcriptions, animation, and software design and engineering.
Feb. 3, 2005 PhilNITS sets up Cebu office
The Philippine National IT Standards Foundation, Inc. (PhilNITS) is expanding its reach by setting up a branch in Cebu City located at the Department if Trade and Industry (DTI) regional office. “There is a need to extend our presence not only in the National Capital region but also in the Visayas and Mindanao,” says Maricor Akol, president of PhilNITS. The Cebu office could effectively coordinate and facilitate PhilNITS' projects and activities particularly on certification programs, examinations and training, Akol said.
A number of Japanese firms are located in Cebu such as NEC, Epson, Adtx and other technology companies that would benefit from the establishment of the PhilNITS Cebu office. PhilNITS, the country's leading certification body, has already certified 137 IT professionals and engineers since it started on April 10, 2002. Formerly Japanese IT Standard Examinations Foundation (JITSE), PhilNITS is supported by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan and the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). PhilNITS is also getting technical assistance and support from the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and training programs from the Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Center of Internaional Cooperation for Computerization (CICC) of Japan. Japan has been helping the Philppines in developing the country's IT industry through the Asia IT Initiative (AITI) project.
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