Equipping Youths with Digital Skills in PH

In today’s digital world, organizations have been continuously embracing and adopting modern technologies in their business practices to stay competitive. With this reality, businesses require digital skills not only from their current workforce but from the next generation of IT professionals.

SAP helps bridge skills gaps for the next generation of leaders through its University Alliances Program

According to a recent study by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and LinkedIn, basic computer knowledge and skills are required from eight out of 10 hired applicants, and four out of 10 with extensive digital literacy in Asia and the Pacific. This situation is also the same in the Philippines. Simple digital skills were needed from six out of 10 hired Filipino jobseekers and two out of 10 with advanced skills.

Meanwhile, with the plans laid by the current administration, promoting digital literacy through upskilling young Filipinos, particularly their digital skills, is also deemed critical since the country continues to strengthen its digital transformation initiatives.

“As the demand for digital skills increases, we believe that education is the key to achieving the country’s digital transformation goals. Educational institutions must be able to equip their students with the right knowledge and digital skills before they enter the workforce. Not only will it help them have more opportunities in the professional world, but it will also give them the ability to help public or private organizations innovate for business success,” said Rudy Abrahams, Managing Director of SAP Philippines.

To assist in bridging the gap and build the next generation’s digital skills for more opportunities in the professional world,  SAP SE  continues its mission to help the world run better and improve people’s lives by helping strengthen the future IT workforce through its University Alliances (UA) program in the country.

With more than 160 university members across the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ), this initiative aims to enable faculty and teachers to hone the youths' digital skills by introducing the latest technologies and methodologies with SAP solutions. Membership in this program grants access to SAP software. It also helps University partners learn best practices for integrating UA resources into teaching SAP to their students and collaborate with the SAP ecosystem of customers and partners who are keen to hire these digital youths as early talents.

In the Philippines, there are now at least 23 universities that are part of the program. Among these institutions is Mapua University, one of the top IT schools in the country.  

“Mapua University has been a member of the SAP UA Program since 2010. Our membership to this program allows us to equip our students with necessary digital skills that they can use to jumpstart their career and thrive as IT professionals,” said Ariel Kelly Balan, Dean of the School of Information Technology Mapua University.

Empower faculty members’ skills and knowledge with Train-the-Trainer workshops

For universities to educate students with the latest digital skills, faculty members in the Philippines can attend the Train-the-Trainer workshops conducted by members of the Philippines Next-Gen University Alliances Council. This Council comprise of lighthouse educational institutions selected to be multipliers of the University Competence Centers (UCCs) and  Academic Competence Centers (ACCs). These universities mentor other UA educators with the best practices for teaching students when it comes to educating SAP software and curriculum.

Gain access to the Student Zone of SAP Learning

Being a member of SAP UA also provides students and educators free access to the SAP Learning Student Zone where they can learn and be certified as like SAP professionals. This is where they can get an overview of all SAP solutions with dedicated learning journeys for newcomers or coding learning journeys (for developers) and consultant learning journeys. Many of the learning journeys lead to records of achievement and some of them to certification.