STI eyeing offshore IT education market

A P250-million overseas expansion program will take computer education pioneer STI International to the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific and eventually to the United States and China where it hopes to replicate its career-oriented educational model.

Under its new leadership, STI International aims to establish its initial networks of STI schools in Indonesia, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia. Chito Salazar, the newly appointed president of STI International, says they have signed deals with partner-institutions in these three countries.

In Indonesia, 165 STI franchise schools will be put up in cooperation with hardware distributor P.T. Metrodata. In Saudi Arabia, five STI franchise schools will be established with the help of IT services firm Asedco. In Vietnam, an all-Filipino company will help STI open 65 franchise schools.

The overseas expansion program is in line with STI’s long-running thrust to send local IT graduates abroad for better employment opportunities. Felipe Alfonso, the new chairman of STI Education Services Group, says that as labor conditions in the Philippines get tougher, the more they try to make their educational programs market-oriented so STI graduates can be immediately employed, especially abroad.

"The job market here is limited. What keep the Philippines afloat are the annual $8-billion remittances of our foreign-based workers. To be competitive in the overseas market, we have to make sure they (students) will pass all the tests abroad," Alfonso said.

STI officials say that aside from being career and market-oriented STI’s education program is also priced comparatively cheaper than most IT schools to accommodate more students from the middle to low-income families. Alfonso, former president and CEO of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), notes that STI students also need not just affordable education but to land jobs right away. In this regard, he says STI is strengthening its job placement services through its sister company, Global Resource for Outsourced Workers Inc. (GROW).

GROW’s services are exclusive and free to STI students. It will be the employers who will pay or reimburse GROW for finding the right people they need.

What brain drain?

By openly motivating its students to study well and aspire for jobs abroad, STI risks being criticized as institutionalizing the growing brain drain problem in the country. But STI officials believe that given the present economic and labor conditions in the country, the Filipinos’ livelihood is more important.

"I really don’t believe in brain drain. If you can’t provide jobs here, how can you convince people to stay here?" says Eusebio Tanco, president and CEO of STI Education Services Group.

Alfonso concurs, saying that it’s lamentable that the country doesn’t face the reality that its best export is its people.

"The strength of this country is its masses. The government does not have all the resources for mass education. Notwithstanding the rhetorics about bringing down trade barriers, one area where we’re stranded is in the free movement of people. Therefore, we want to provide a system that will train and adequately prepare students to work overseas. This is STI’s new direction: not just a piece-meal approach, but also one that looks at the entire supply chain process," notes Alfonso.

They, however, clarify that they don’t guarantee 100 percent job placement here or abroad, particularly to students who are not in the top of their class. But Alfonso says they will try to hit a much bigger percentage of overseas job placements for STI graduates this year.

Plateauing market

STI’s international expansion is also triggered by the fact that IT education in the country has been steadily plateauing for the last three years, according to Salazar.

"Competition is also growing so we need to go outside. There’s also the risk of putting all your eggs in one basket. In addition, there is no major global player in this field, except IBM’s education services, which cater to only two percent of the worldwide market," Salazar adds.

Instead of aiming to be in every country, STI’s strategy will be to look at countries with large mid-youth market to make it possible for them to open at least 10 franchise schools. At present, STI has a network of 110 schools nationwide, with 60,000 students enrolled in mainstream courses and another 30,000 to 40,000 students in short courses.

The 20-year-old institution also recently branched out to healthcare, education and accountancy programs. By acquiring the De Los Santos College, STI automatically gets 850 nursing students. Programs for education and accountancy are just about to start. STI also plans to offer review and retooling programs to facilitate professional certification requirements.

Finally, Alfonso tells NetWorks that their expansion overseas is also for business security reasons. "STI’s business has been rooted in the country. If anything goes wrong here, we will go kaput. We need to establish bases abroad so we don’t become subject to only one political system."