MANILA, Philippines--The Netopia Internet cafe franchise has partnered with Australian e-learning company Drake Training Systems Limited (DTSL) to offer the Englishlink English language training program to people wanting to enter the call center job market.

Under the partnership, DTSL will provide Englishlink through a website and Netopia will serve as a payment outlet and ?classroom.?

There are about 200,000 people working in 120 contact centers in the Philippines. The industry is projecting that by 2010 more than one million will be working in it and generating $12 billion for the economy.

However, industry data indicate that of the 400,000 new graduates looking for work, 2.89 percent are hired in business process outsourcing (BPO) companies and call centers.

Only 10 in 100 college graduates pass their communication exams -- and the next 20 could have been hired had they enrolled in Englishlink, DTSL director Ron Longstaff said.

?Call centers can triple their returns by using Englishlink,? Longstaff said.

Netopia provides clients with online content from ReviewCard, Total Transcription Services, and Computer Assisted Learning. It also promotes the online job portal JOB1 Global.

Netopia officials described Englishlink is a strategic addition to their services because it offers native-speaker quality English lessons accessed in any Netopia branch. With INQUIRER.net