UP system taps Google Apps

MANILA, Philippines - The University of the Philippines (UP) became one of the latest universities to go Google as Google Philippines formally launched on Wednesday its "Schools Gone Google" program, leading major universities in the country in the migration of their education management system to Google Apps.

The UP system is expected to bring in 250,000 members in the system once the integration has been implemented in all of its campuses. There are about 20 million Google Apps users in the world, Google said.

"We are glad that major universities are taking the step to modernize their system by adopting Google Apps for Education. We hope that this will be one of the many factors that will help improve the learning system in the country," Narciso Reyes, Google Philippines country manager said.

Through Google Apps for Education, schools which adopted the program were granted access to Google's collaboration tools which include Gmail, Calendar, Talk, Drive and Sites.

"Implementing Google Apps for Education for the whole UP system is a big move for us. As the premier state university, we want to optimize the use of technology to provide our students with a better experience," UP President Alfredo Pascual said.

Other educational institutions which adopted Google Apps for Education on the same day were Adamson University, Asian Institute of Maritime Studies, Ateneo de Zamboanga University, Berkeley School, Eastern Visayas State University, Educational Systems Technological Institute, Davao Oriental State College of Science and Technology, Immaculate Conception Academy, La Salle University- Ozamiz, Miriam College, Rizal Technological University, Silliman, University, St. Paul University, St. Scholastica's College and University of San Jose Recoletos.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Education have earlier migrated their learning management system to Google, along with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. This makes the entire Philippine education department powered by Google.

"Our productivity increased by 166 percent. We were able to take action on client requests more efficiently after implementing Google Apps for Education. Plus, the deployment process was very easy, With this quality of technology free of cost, it was a simple choice to go Google," said Charlie Calimlim, chief of CHED's information and publication division.