In a virtual briefing on Tuesday, August 2, FEU Institute of Technology (FEU Tech) announced its newest offerings to equip Filipino students with in-demand skills.
The new specializations are their Data Science specialization for BS Computer Science, Business Analytics specialization for BS Information Technology, and Innovation specialization for BS Information Technology.
The offerings are already available to FEU students for the current school year, SY 2022-2023, and intended to prepare them for careers in technology fields.
Rolan Garcia, FEU Tech senior director for innovation and director for new ventures, emphasized that innovators and problem solvers are in high-demand.
“The ability to innovate is a top skill and qualification that all organizations want. It’s already part of [top conglomerates in the country’s] HR onboarding process that you have innovation training in your CV or if you don’t, mandatory, you need to go through innovation training. The reason why they opt for the latter is because there is no funnel from schools and universities of trained innovators,” Garcia underscored.
“The school really aims to be the school of innovation in the Philippines. We do this by providing accessible, but quality education, [and] building more nation builders and problem solvers who can inspire change in society in general,” he added.
Garcia and other faculty members gave summaries during the briefing about each specialization and the skills they would hone in the students.
Dr. Hadji Tejuco, an instructor in FEU Tech’s college of Computer Studies and Multimedia Arts, defined Data Science as the field of study that extracts meaningful insights from data so people can make better decisions.
He grounded this “intimidating field” in a discussion of self-driving cars by explaining how algorithms developed by data scientists enable autonomous vehicles to recognize objects on the road and guarantee a safe drive.
In this specialization’s classes, Tejuco promised that students will learn skills that help make such futuristic inventions a reality like data analysis, data visualization, data warehousing, and machine learning.
Another instructor from the Computer Studies and Multimedia Arts, Geliza Alcober, covered the related Business Analytics specialization. This field encompasses the applied use of technology and statistical methods to derive insights from business data.
It would involve students learning skills such as data gathering, data storing, statistical analysis and interpretation, data application, and programming.
“Using data, statistics, and visualizations you could provide strategies for your company to gain profit, have your customer be more involved, and of course, ensure success,” Alcober asserted.
Lastly, Garcia gave a walk-through of the Innovation specialization.
“As a student, you train your muscle to become an innovator,” he stated. “Contrary to popular belief that entrepreneurship cannot be taught, that it is innate to people, we beg to differ. We think that entrepreneurship can be taught in the classroom.”
Building on their current programs that nurture entrepreneurship among FEU students, this specialization will teach students how to discover business ideas that address societal problems.
From there, they will learn how to confirm the viability of their business idea through the evidence and practice-based testing loop while learning other essential skills for start-up founders.
Due to their support of student innovation, use of emerging technologies, and their agile response during the pandemic, FEU and FEU Tech were recognized in the World’s Universities with Real Impact Top Global Innovative Universities for 2022 last June.
FEU Tech, however, said that the desire to instill future-ready and innovation skills in their students runs deeper than strengthening their school’s reputation. They believe that training students to be the next problem-solvers and innovators will be the key to developing the country as a whole.
“Innovation is one of the main pillars to build a first-world economy. Most of the first world countries are tech-based economies These are countries that have a very high concentration of innovators and technologists. We need more of those,” Garcia said.
“The hope is that as young as they come in FEU, we can train innovators and entrepreneurs and hopefully, we can increase the trained innovators and entrepreneurs from the academe where all learning starts.”
