IBM pushing for curriculum for data scientists

With the country’s thrust towards attracting more of the higher-end outsourcing services to lessen the underemployment rate and sustain long-term economic growth, IBM Philippines is joining hands with the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) for a special curriculum for data scientists.

Mariels Almeda Winhoffer,  IBM president and country general manager, said in a briefing last week that IBM officials had already signed a memorandum of understanding with Ched last December.

“Data scientist is the new sexy profession. It is a job that will have to do a lot with analytics, which is considered the game-changer in the third era of computing which is the Cognitive Era of Computing,” said Winhoffer.

According to Winhoffer, their partnership with the academe is part of the company’s goal to put the country at the forefront for analytics.

ANALYTICS

Analytics would allow industries and individuals to use available data and make “intelligent, insightful, and impactful” decisions to grow their businesses thus impacting on the economy positively, said Winhoffer.

“The market for global analytics is estimated to reach $160 billion by 2015. This is a large opportunity to tap especially for the Philippines, which is now a top destination for business process outsourcing. With analytics, we can add more value to the services we are currently offering to our clients now,” said Winhoffer.

Winhoffer added that BPO professionals would have a good path to become data scientists in the future who would provide more relevant information to their customers.

To ensure that the talent pool will be ready when it happens, Winhoffer said that they had proposed four special courses for the Data Scientist profession.

These courses includes Fundamentals of Business Analytics, Enterprise Data Modeling, Analytics Modeling, and Analytics Technique and Tools.

“We are also looking at developing one for associates,” said Winhoffer.

PARTNERS

In the region, Winhoffer said they were working closely with various universities for the specialized curriculum which would include the University of Cebu (UC), University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJR), Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT), and Silliman University in Dumaguete City.

They are working out another partnership with the University of San Carlos.

Winhoffer said that they were hoping that the new curriculum would be offered starting this June./Reporter Aileen Garcia-Yap