IBM boosts students' competitiveness in global IT workforce

By Deb Gutierrez | Jan 11, 2010

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Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) eaffirms its collaborative partnership with IBM Singapore by signing an addendum to the memorandum-of-understanding (MOU) for Business Software Innovation Center (BSIC).

The MOU for BSIC was signed on 4th March 2008 as a continual effort to build up capabilities and knowledge on IBM’s innovative collaboration solutions. Since 1999, the two partners have been collaborating on emerging technologies and capabilities development in the area of Web 2.0 technologies, Web Services, Open Computing Standards, Service-Oriented Architecture and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.

The signing of the addendum further strengthens the partnership between IBM and NYP. The main objective of this addendum aims to encourage more NYP students to obtain IBM professional certification on software such as IBM Rational and DB2. This initiative valued at approximately US$90,000 will benefit more than 200 NYP students and alumni each year.

IBM certification programme for NYP students started in 2005 with the support of IBM Academic Initiative team. It aims to enhance graduate’s competitiveness in the IT industry. Java Enterprise and Database modules are part of the core IT curricula offered by NYP’s School of Information Technology. Building upon this strong foundation, the additional in-depth hands-on sessions on IBM tools conducted by NYP staff further boost their students’ technical proficiencies.

In 2009 alone, 214 NYP students have attained IBM certifications. Over the last four years, the certification programme has expanded to include Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software (RAD) and DB2 9 Fundamentals. With the completion of 2009’s certification programme, NYP's total number of certified students now stands at 421. This is made possible through the close collaboration between the NYP team of lecturers and IBM trainers.
 
“I feel that it is crucial to be equipped with IBM certifications as I am confident that my certifications will value-add to my resume when applying for a job. Getting certified in RAD and DB2 has been a fruitful experience for me.  The learning process has not been easy. However, with the lecturers’ patience and guidance, I was able to master the knowledge and skills in both software tools” said Jeremy Tan, a year 3 student in Diploma in Business Informatics who has been recently certified in RAD and DB2.