PhilNITS

The Philippine National IT Standards Foundation, Inc., or PhilNITS, is a non-stock, non-profit, non-governmentfact|date=April 2008 organization that is implementing in the Philippines the IT standards adopted from Japan, with the support of the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) of the Philippines and the Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry (METI) of Japan.

History

PhilNITS was initially known as the Japanese IT Standards Exams of the Philippines Foundation, Inc. (JITSE-Phil), and was registered as such with the Securities & Exchange Commission on April 10, 2002 and set up its office at the Penthouse of the Prince Bldg, in Rada Street, Legazpi Village Makati city,

A week after its incorporation, the Japan IT Engineers Examination Center (JITEC) represented by its President, Mr. Takao Tominaga, signed a mutual recognition agreement (MRA) with the JITSE-Phil Foundation, represented by its Founding President, Ms. Ma. Corazon M. Akol in ceremonies held at the Shangrila Manila Hotel and witnessed by Ambassador Ara of Japan, Secretary Mar Roxas of DTI, Secretary Virgilio Pena of ITECC, Mr. Yoshikai, Deputy Director General of METI, and Mr. Sakai, Commercial Attache of Japan to the Philippines.

DTI started to support PhilNITS in 2003 by providing PhilNITS with its office space at the 3rd Floor of the Oppen Building in Makati City, then in 2005, at the DTI Region 7 Office at 2nd Floor of the WDC Building in Cebu City and in 2007, at the DTI Region 11 office at the 5th Floor, Mintrade Bldg. in Davao City.

With the MRA between JITEC and PhilNITS, PhilNITS is able to receive technical support from Japan. JITEC has been providing guidance, training, necessary hardware/software programs, and the documentation required in implementing the Standards on the Fundamentals of IT (FE) and in Software Design and Development (SW) .

On May 29, 2003, the Bureau of Product Standards (BPS) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), after due consultation with the National Computer Center (NCC), accepted JITSE as the Phil. National Standard - PNS 2030:2003 Information Technology Engineers Skills Standards

On May 30,2003, after an evaluation of the results of the First Certification Exams conducted by JITSE-Phil on the Fundamentals of IT Engineers (FE), the Ministry of Justice of Japan recognized JITSE as the Philippine Nihon Joho Gijutsu Hyojun Shiken Zaidan. With this official recognition by the Ministry of Justice, the FE Certificate, more popularly called the JITSE Certificate, can be used as a valid document for processing the work visas of IT professionals bound for Japan.

With the Asia IT Initiative Program (AITI) of METI, PhilNITS is able to receive technical support from Japan through the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), the Association for Overseas Technical Scholarships (AOTS) and the Center of the International Cooperation on Computerization (CICC).

JETRO has provided PhilNITS since 2003, through the Japan Expert Service Abroad (JEXSA) Project, technical experts and the training facilities in the PhilNITS offices in Makati, Cebu and Davao. AOTS has provided Training Courses in the Philippines (in the various offices of PhilNITS as well as in some schools in provinces where PhilNITS has no Training Center) and have awarded scholarships for training in Japan. Since 2003, through Grants from AOTS, PhilNITS has trained 838 IT Professionals in the Philippines and has sent 120 scholars to Japan. CICC has provided several Training programs as well as an e Learning System consisting of the hardware (2 servers and 4 terminals), the software (that can accommodate a maximum of 2000 users) and contents consisting of 24 modules developed by JITEC and CICC and 1 module developed by the Thomson Learning Center, donated by Fujitsu to PhilNITS.( All the modules are made available to the public, 24 by 7, through a subscription fee of P500.00 per month. We do not charge for the contents, but only for the broadband service that we have to pay our Providers.)

In the ITEE Conference held at the AOTS Yokohama Kenshu Center, JITEC and the 6 organizations with mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) with JITEC, decided to form the IT Professionals Examination Council or ITPEC. The members of ITPEC are: the Japan Information Technology Examination Center (JITEC) of Japan, the Multimedia Technology Enhancement & Operations Sendirian Berhad (METEOR) of Malaysia, the Myanmar Computer federation (MCF) of Myanmar, the Japan-Mongolian Information Technology Association (JMITA) of Mongolia, (now replaced by the National IT Park, NITP), the Philippine National IT Standards Foundation (PhilNITS) of the Philippines, the National Electronics and Computer technology Center (NECTEC) of Thailand, and the Vietnam Information Technology Examination and Training Support Center (VITEC) of Vietnam. In this Agreement, the members decided to have a common exam, on the same agreed upon date and time, and to recognize each other’s Certificate. ITPEC members have been using the same logo to raise public recognition of the examination and have adopted a common marketing strategy. JITEC-IPA expects to establish multi-lateral mutual recognition agreements, and transform ITPEC into a fully Asia-wide organization.

Vision

* To attain excellence in Information Technology through the development of Certified IT Professionals adhering to recognized world standards.
* To accelerate economic development through the massive deployment here and abroad of our highly trained knowledge workers.

Mission

The development of Philipinnes' human resource to sustain the IT industry.

Programs / Projects

*Conducting certification exams:
** Fundamentals of IT Engineers (FE) exam – conducted twice a year on the first Sunday of April and usually the last Sunday of October (as long as it does not coincide with the Eid al Fatir Muslim festival). There are 8 exam centers: University of Baguio for the north Luzon area, Philippine Christian University in Manila, Ateneo de Naga University for the Bicol Region, University of San Carlos in Cebu and Holy Name University in Bohol for the Visayas region, and for Mindanao: Capitol University in Cagayan de Oro, Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Zamboanga and the Immaculate Conception University in Davao.

** Software Design & Development (SW) exam – conducted once a year, on the first Sunday of April, in the same exam centers as the FE exams.

*Conducting free training courses on FE & SW for teachers and commercial trainers. Usually funded by grants from AOTS, CICC and JETRO.

*Conducting free summer training of teachers, a joint undertaking with the Philippine Society of IT Educators (PSITE) and the Philippine Association of Private Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAPSCU). PAPSCU is providing the venue and PhilNITS is providing the lecturers (from the PhilNITS Society).

*Providing training using the e-learning system donated by Japan.

*Guiding and helping in the development of the PhilNITS Society, an organization formed whose only criterion for membership is being PhilNITS-certified, in any exam category.

Objectives

To establish an internationally recognized and accepted standard with which to measure the competency level of IT Engineers/Professionals in the country and have it adopted and implemented nationwide by Industry, Government and Academe in their selection process

To develop a workforce of certified IT professionals that are qualified and eligible for work not only in Japanese companies in Philippines and abroad but also in multinational companies anywhere in the world.

To help in establishing a strong middle class of qualified Filipino IT professionals in the academies, the industry and the government, with good and moral work ethics, who will bring the country out of the quagmire of poverty.

To establish world leadership in IT.fact|date=April 2008

Staff

Officers of PhilNITS are:
* Ms. Ma. Corazon M. Akol – President
* Mr. Peter Que Jr. – VP for Operations,
* Mr. Shinichiro Kato – VP for Finance
* Ms. Flora Capili – secretary.

ee also

* ITPEC
* JITEC
* METEOR EXAM
* NITP
* MCF EXAM
* NECTEC
* VITEC

References

External links

* [http://www.philnits.org/ PhilNITS official website]