Thursday, June 11, 2009

Two organisations sign partnership agreement

THE Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC) has signed a partnership agreement with Rising Data Solutions Limited (RDS), a business process outsourcing (BPO) company, to train people and create jobs in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry.
Under the agreement, RDS will provide a curriculum and logistics in the field and train teachers to teach the course at the college, while GTUC would house the classrooms, hardware and teaching personnel for the implementation of the course.
The college will also absorb the class into its official curriculum where students who earn qualifying marks in the course will gain employment with RDS.
The two institutions signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Accra yesterday to seal the partnership.
The President of GTUC, Dr Osei K. Darkwa, said the government had identified Information Technology Enabled Service (ITES) and the BPO industry as one of the key industries for the creation of jobs and the provision of marketable skills for the youth for the country to position itself as a destination of choice for outsourcing.
He expressed optimism that the collaboration would equip the students of the college with the requisite skills in areas such as communication and listening, telemarketing, keyboard, time management, computer, customer care, telephone etiquette, accent neutralisation and pronunciation skills.
He indicated that a study conducted in 2006 by an Indian company, Hewitt Associates, with assistance from the World Bank and Information for Development (infoDev) in Ghana, estimated that the sector could create 37,000 jobs by the year 2011, with an added value of US$750 million to the economy.
The Vice-President of GTUC, Dr Robert Baffuor, gave the assurance that the university would continue to provide the platform and build the requisite foundation to place Ghana on the technology map.
The Public Relations Manager of RDS, Mr A. J. Whitman, noted that the partnership was part of RDS’s ongoing campaign to bring more jobs to Ghana via the BPO industry.
“We are proud of this partnership with GTUC because both parties recognise that the private sector cannot grow without the educational sector, and vice versa,” he added.
The Head of Corporate Communication, Vodaphone, Mr Albert Don-Chebe, gave assurance that Vodaphone was strongly behind the deal and commended RDS for having the courage to invest in Ghana, despite the challenges.
The Director of Finance and Administration of the Ministry of Communications, Mr M. B. Alhassan, disclosed that the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) were strongly behind Ghana in the development of the BPO industry.
“This emphasises the government’s commitment to the sector,” he indicated, and noted that to further support the sector, the government was putting up a data centre to properly monitor and evaluate its performance.

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