ADAMSON University, the Vincentian-managed educational institution, wants to produce technopreneurs to help the country become a major player in the digital economy.
“We are hoping to produce not only employees, but technopreneurs who can help the country achieve inclusive growth,” Raquel Bermudez, the current chairman of the Continuing Professional Development Department of Adamson University, told the media in an interview during its recent industry partners’ appreciation event.
Bermudez said the thrust of the university will be in the science and engineering courses because “it is the way to go.”
Bermudez said Adamson University is encouraging its students to join various competitions to broaden their exposure in engineering, sciences and technology. In 2017 two teams from the College of Engineering managed to enter the top 20 and top 10 in the Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (SWEEP) competition.
Bermudez said the university’s industry partners play a major role in developing the skills and capabilities of the students. Through their apprenticeship programs developed by the companies and Adamson University, she said students will be equipped with the latest knowledge and trends in the industries they are involved in.
“The industry partners play a very important role in the student’s on-the-job exposure in a company. With their apprenticeship, the students are now in a position to prepare their plans and pursue the right career road map,” she said.
“We are also after their absorption. Their employability is also a part of it. And we are also very careful in choosing the partners.”
Adamson University has maintained a strong partnership with its more than 200 trainers who regularly provide training and apprenticeship programs to the students.
Some of the industry partners are 1771 Group of Restaurants, AAI Business Pro Inc., Accenture Inc., ACMI Office Systems Philippines Inc., Actuate Builders Inc., Addforce HR Solutions Inc., Advanced Fasteners Inc., Advanced World Solutions, Aimstaff Inc., ALC Group of Companies, Air Filters Philippines Inc., All Source Manpower and Consultancy Services Inc., All Vision Business Enterprise Corp., Alsons/AWS Information Systems Inc., Anchor Land Holdings Inc., Asia Brewery Inc. and BDO Unibank, among others.
Being aware of the intense competition in the job market, Bermudez said an industry partner is expected to provide the appropriate training for the students. Bermudez said Adamson University needs to develop and produce students with the required skill sets.
Just like any university, Bermudez said Adamson can provide the theories in their studies that should be complemented by their apprenticeship programs in the industry. “In academe, we can provide theories. But at the end of the day, after they graduate, they will look for jobs or create their own company,” she said.
“Companies today require different skill sets and the only way to acquire those skill sets is to immerse in the industry,” she added.
Arlene de Leon, assistant manager of the clinical pharmacy unit of the pharmacy services of the Asian Hospital and Medical Center, said forming a partnership between a school and a company is a two-way process. She said the curriculum of Adamson University’s pharmacy program is a perfect fit for the hospital. After reviewing the hospital’s training module, de Leon said the university approved the offer to let their students train in clinical pharmacy clerkship.
“It really helped our clinical pharmacy service, as well as their institution, to train their students when it comes to clinical pharmacy,” de Leon said.
“We want them to immerse and to learn, especially when it comes to medication. We know there are a lot of choices. But when it comes to treatment, it is different. We want to breach that gap. That is why we started the partnership with Adamson. And luckily after that internship, we got employees from that batch of interns,” de Leon said.
