Dr. Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria, University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) Chancellor, delivered a keynote speech to more than 300 participants in the Industry/Academe Analytics Conference held on 18 April 2018 at the University of Asia and the Pacific, Pasig.
Themed “Bridging the Industry/Academe Analytics Gap through the APEC Data Science and Analytics Competencies,” the conference served as a dialogue between the academe and the industry, and aimed to reconcile current syllabi with Recommended APEC Data Science and Analytics Competencies developed by Project DARE (Data Analytics Raising Employment). The event ultimately became a venue for academic institutions to develop business analytics programs, which in turn, will give the industry access to graduates who are prepared for Analytics jobs.
Chancellor Bandalaria’s presentation entitled “Shaping the Philippine Analytics Education Toward Sustainable Development Through Academia-Industry Partnership” featured UPOU’s initiatives toward Analytics Education as propelled by enabling policies from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), specifically through the development of an Analytics course to be delivered online. Along with the development of the undergraduate course, the University’s initiatives also include the training of faculty, the development of study guides, the production of open educational resources (OERs), and the offering of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on Business Analytics.
Chancellor Bandalaria also served as a panel discussant on “Government Initiatives on the Education of Analytics,” where she discussed CHED’s enabling policies, the critical role of Analytics in the academe, and the importance of collaboration among sectors to ensure the development of Analytics competencies.
Apart from future initiatives by the UPOU, such as the online training of educators who will be handling analytics courses in collaboration with CHED, and further research into the various aspects of the practice of open education on business analytics, Chancellor Bandalaria also hopes to continue the harmonious collaboration among the academe, the government, and the data science and analytics industry toward the advancement of analytics education in the country. (AMFlores)
