Filipino IT workers to benefit from Accenture-MIT training

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has collaborated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s office of Professional Education Programs (MIT PEP) for the Accenture Solutions Delivery Academy (ASDA), a new training and certification program based on the company’s application delivery curriculum. 

About 20,000 Accenture employees worldwide, are eligible to enroll in the program, the first industry-academic collaboration of its kind. Employees who successfully complete the program are awarded “application developer” or “application designer” certifications by Accenture and MIT PEP, attesting to their software engineering, system-integration and application-delivery skills. In the Philippines, approximately 100 Accenture employees have enrolled in the program.

“The Accenture Solutions Delivery Academy allows us to offer another training program that enhances our competitiveness with its focus on educational excellence,” said Beth Lui, Country Managing Director, Accenture Delivery Center in the Philippines.  “Employees gain access to coursework and highly marketable certifications developed with the participation of the world’s preeminent engineering school, while Accenture benefits from a technology solutions workforce that is trained in, and held to the highest standards.”

Lui added, “Such industry-academic collaboration is another major step in raising further the quality of Accenture’s highly skilled knowledge workers. This supports Accenture’s thrust of building deep, specialized technology and delivery excellence skills required to deliver Technology Solutions. We are optimistic that the trainings and certification program will further beef up talent and capabilities of the Philippine workforce and make our employees more globally competitive.”

Accenture recently inaugurated a facility in Cebu, an addition to its seven facilities across Metro Manila. The facility will initially provide application management, systems development, and other technology services to global clients on an outsourced basis. During the inauguration, Lui underscored the company’s commitment to continue to build talents, specifically new technology graduates, to become assets across Accenture.

Meanwhile, Dick K. P. Yue, Associate Dean of Engineering at MIT and Faculty Director of MIT PEP, emphasized that “Our program with Accenture provides one model for industry-campus engagement focused on professional education. Helping Accenture to launch its Solutions Delivery Academy is a natural fit with PEP’s mission to broadly engage professionals in ongoing engineering, science, and technological education opportunities that enhance leadership, practice, and innovation.”

Accenture’s two-year collaboration with MIT PEP includes ongoing review of the academy’s educational content, student assessments, and overall program design by several MIT School of Engineering faculty who are experts in related subject areas, including: Java, C++, SAP, host-centric and Microsoft technologies and the software-development lifecycle.  Faculty feedback is incorporated into course material and examinations.

Accenture’s strong emphasis on training gives the company a big competitive advantage. In 2006, the company invested close to $700 million on training, Accenture employees average 70 hours of training per year.  In the Philippines, the company conducts 37 courses each week. The Accenture Solutions Delivery Academy is just the latest example of the company’s commitment to advancing its employees’ technical and professional skills.