By Lily O Ramos
MANILA, Feb. 19 (PNA)— The Aboitiz group of companies, in cooperation with the Department of Education (DepEd), on Wednesday rolled out its student-focused activities under its “Future Talents Program” at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel, Makati City.
Dubbed as The Academe Lunch, the event was supported by Aboitiz subsidiaries involved in power generation, distribution, banking, food and land development and the company’s corporate social responsibility arm, Aboitiz Foundation founded a hundred years ago in Cebu.
”Academe is important to us; we think of ways and means on how we can influence it to meet measures of educational excellence, vocational training, preparation, confidence and readiness to join the work force for the future graduates,” Senior Vice president Txabi Aboitiz told representatives of various educational institutions and business leaders in attendance.
”In the students’ summit, we want to share our experience in sensible leadership principles by connecting with students on how to interact with the business world. That is why we want the very best young crop to train to takeover management when the current managers reach retirement age,” Aboitiz said.
He added that this is a yearly celebration of Aboitiz Group‘s partnership with the sector of academe which includes the annual Aboitiz Future Leaders Business Summit (AFLBS) based on “On -the -Job Training” and the scholarship program which has helped hundreds of interns and scholars.
Aboitiz said the AFLBS in its ninth year brings together close to a hundred promising college students nationwide for two days to hone their business and leadership skills.
Since its establishment, a total of 720 cream of the crop have graduated to better job in all types of industries such as engineering, science, mathematics, pharmacy, banking, etc.
He mentioned that “It’s not only about preparing student scholars for the corporate world. By forging the leaders of today, we are guaranteed with a better tomorrow—referring to the country’s best and brightest working scholars, varsity and athletes, honor students and organization leaders who participate in the annual AFLBS.”
He said that the company’s student programs have been developed to help the country’s future leaders establish careers that would eventually help in the country’s economic progress.
Aboitiz said his firm has 50 academic partners in universities like University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila, De La Salle University, University of Santo Tomas, Don Bosco College, University of the East, Mapua , Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Adamson University, etc. which suggest discussions on curriculum development, faculty immersion, job fairs and tours to places/venues where possible job opportunities exist.
Wednesday’s event also formally opened the invitation to partner universities to enroll their students in the Aboitiz College Scholarship Program (ACSP) which provided financial assistance renewable every semester, provided the scholar maintains the 85 per cent general point average or its equivalent.
The On- the- Job Training Program equips students with the necessary skills and the right work attitude through a curriculum-based training experience in preparation of their journey to the actual work environment.
Students interested in the scholarship program may visit careers.aboitiz,com, facebook.com/AboitizCareers, and or follow @aboitiz careers on twitter. (PNA)