Tuesday, July 01, 2008 ICT scholars to leave Cebu for Korea this year - Cedf-it
A FOUNDATION, as well as its member-schools in Cebu, plan to send the first batch of scholars to South Korea for further studies in the field of information and communication technology by October this year.
This, after the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (Cedf-it), Kwangwoon University of Korea and nine participating member-schools signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) during the opening of the first Philippine Open Source Summit last week.
Seven of the participating member-schools are all Cebu based. The schools are the University of San Carlos (USC), the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), University of Cebu (UC), the University of Southern Philippines (USP), Southwestern University (SWU), University of the Visayas (UV) and the Asian College of Technology (ACT).
Siliman University in Dumaguete City, Oriental Negros and the University of Bohol are also recipients of the program.
ICT hub
Bonifacio Belen, executive director of Cedf-it, said that the development is part of the vision to turn Cebu into an ICT hub in the country.
“This is going beyond marketing hype,” he said.
Under the terms of the MOA, students of member-schools may pursue their undergraduate or graduate studies through scholarships given by Kwangwoon University.
Students of the Korean university can also attend special courses offered in Cebu universities. There will also be an exchange of professors program between the Cedf-it member-schools and Kwangwoon University.
Kwangwoon University and the local schools will be working closely with Cedf-it in designing and developing relevant programs for the scholarship and faculty exchange.
Coordinator
Cedf-it will be the overall program coordinator and secretariat for the scholarship and faculty exchange program. Member-school have also agreed to a one-time funding contribution of P10,000 per school.
Although the implementing guidelines have yet to be finalized, Belen said Cedf-it has already received a number of inquiries regarding the program.
The president of Kwa-ngwoon University also came to Cebu to deliver a special keynote address during the open source summit.
Dr. Sang-Chul Lee, who was the former head of the ICT council in Korea, said IT connectivity is very dominant in Korea, not just economically but politically as well.
“IT is Korea’s growth driver,” he said. He added that Korea’s current gross domestic product (GDP) is $20,000.
He also said that since Cebu is more focused on services, this is where ICT should be implemented for improvement and
expansion. He added that through ICT, Cebu, and the country in general, will see a rapid increase in GDP.
“IT (should be) the new infrastructure of Cebu in the future,” he said. (DME)
