IT project to benefit UP Mindanao

By Rudolf Ian G. Alama

Friday 3rd of August 2012

DAVAO CITY, Aug 3 (PIA) -- The e-UP, an information technology project of the University of the Philippines (UP) system, will greatly benefit UP Mindanao, says UP Mindanao chancellor Gilda Rivero.

"A lot, it makes it more efficient," Rivero said when asked if the IT project would yield benefits to the Mindanao campus.

Rivero cited e-UP's benefits in terms of enhancing manpower efficiency.

"UP Mindanao is lean particularly on manpower," she said, adding that the IT project will help them perform their tasks more efficiently.

The chancellor also said that the university can share its resources more particularly regarding talent. "We have so many talents, it would be easy for other constituent universities to tap the resources available," she said.

Rivero also cited that with academic resources being made available online, the IT project makes UP Mindanao more relevant particularly in giving support to Mindanao's agriculture.

The e-UP project is a three-year program that aims to put in place integrated, interconnected and interoperable information and communication technology (ICT) systems and infrastructure in and across all UP campuses.

A flagship program of UP President Alfredo E. Pascual, the e-UP project is scheduled to be implemented in UP Mindanao by 2013. Currently the project is in the design stage of several information systems.

According to Dr. Elvira Zamora, UP Systems vice-president for development, the project is initially worth P750-million, but reiterated that it is a running budget citing the different needs of specific constituents in the UP system.

The project covers five compenents, namely, policy formation, organization and mobilization; benchmarking and IT audit; acquisition/development and installation of information systems; ICT infrastructure development; and ICT competency building.

Among the tangible infrastructure will include enhancements of wi-fi access, upgrading of fiber-optics procurement of top-of-the-line software like Oracle softwares for human resources and financial management, and Peoplesoft campus solutions among other applications.

Added capabilities include video-conferencing, online enrolment, wi-fi campuses, online learning materials among many others. Zamora said that the project will optimize the IT resources of the UP system, integrating it based on the state university's guiding spirit "One University, One UP.

Zamora also assured that the subsequent modernization will not lead to lay offs of university workers. "Nobody would lose his or her job but the nature of the jobs had changed," Zamora said.

She said that part of the project includes competency building, where personnel will be trained on IT matters.

The funding allocation of the e-UP project would come from reprogrammed funds of the UP system and additional funding from the Commission of Higher Education. (RGA-PIA 11)