PHILIPPINE RANKS FOURTH WORLDWIDE IN IT SKILLS


 

MANILA - The Philippines ranks fourth worldwide in competence and skills for the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, a survey by a US-based research firm, the Meta Group, shows. India tops the survey, followed by Israel and Iceland.

The survey said the Philippines beat developed countries such as the United States, Canada, France and Australia in producing ICT professionals and workers.

According to the survey, Filipino ICT professionals are competent and skillful, adept with mainframes, minicomputers and microcomputers and equipped with the technical and business skills for ICT projects. Filipino ICT workers are also skilled in such e-enabling services as business outsourcing and human resource, customer interaction, finance and accounting ad website services.

Systems Technology Institute (STI), the Philippines' leading information-technology school, concluded that the country can succeed in its bid to become the ICT hub in the Asian region despite stumbling blocks such as limited infrastructure for convergence and a legal and administrative framework unable to ensure Internet security and privacy.

"There are problems but these are not big enough to stop the country from achieving the status of becoming the region's e-services hub," an STI statement said, noting that the Philippines enjoys a highly literate and ICT-capable workforce and is the host of several multinational companies' regional operations.

(Asia Pulse/PNA)