Bangkok--4 May--Hill & Knowlton
Department of Skill Development, Microsoft and Kenan Institute Asia announce ‘Building Employability Through Technology and Entrepreneurship Resources’ project
Collaboration set to bring new opportunities for Thai workers to enhance their IT and business skills
In an effort to tackle rising unemployment levels and with IT skills becoming increasingly important in the workplace, the Department of Skill Development, Microsoft Thailand and Kenan Institute Asia have teamed up to equip more Thai workers with the skills they need to ensure they can enjoy a sustainable and successful career.
As such, the May-day ‘Labor-Day’ has been selected to announce their collaboration in setting up a three-year framework agreement to be known as the ‘BETTER’ project, or ‘Building Employability Through Technology and Entrepreneurship Resources’.
By drawing from the combined resources of the Department of Skill Development, Microsoft Thailand and the Kenan Institute Asia, the BETTER project aims to help more Thai people become employable by providing training for both new workers and those already in the workforce with valuable ICT skills. In addition the training will also cover entrepreneurship and give advice on how the participants may use ICT to give their entrepreneurial ideas a leading edge.
Although open to anyone looking to improve their IT and entrepreneurship skills, the key target groups of the BETTER program are those who have recently been made redundant or employees who need to secure their existing jobs.
The Department of Skill Development’s role will be to provide the training staff who will receive full preparation on how to teach the courses from Microsoft Thailand and Kenan Institute Asia. The Department of Skill Development will also oversee the application process of people who wish to join the courses, as well as handling the venues, certificates and some additional staffing costs.
Labor Minister Paitoon Kaewthong said, “During the current economic downturn, the Thai government is looking for new ways to help Thai workers by creating jobs, encouraging greater professionalism and providing the necessary training courses to improve the skills of Thai workers. This is also a great opportunity for us to work more closely with those in the private sector who share this vision, such as Microsoft and Kenan Institute Asia who are helping us to realize this goal. Indeed I am confident that together we will make a real difference for those who need it most and lay down a foundation for sustainable success.”
As an industry leader in the IT field with considerable expertise in IT skills training, Microsoft Thailand will provide course material in the form of its Microsoft Unlimited Potential Community Learning curriculum and the Microsoft Digital Literacy curriculum which have been used successfully both worldwide and for Microsoft’s Community Technology Skill Program in Thailand for five years. In addition, Microsoft will also prepare the course trainers from the Department of Skill Development on how to use these curriculums and provide a grant to Kenan Institute Asia to use for the program over a period of 3 years.
Once participants complete the course, they will be required to provide details to help match them with their ideal job and Microsoft Thailand will then also work with Ezyjob.com who will allow them to post and track their resumes online.
“Microsoft Thailand believes that greater access to technology and the sharing of IT skills can really transform lives, so we have been focusing a lot of our attention on this in Thailand through our ongoing Microsoft Unlimited Potential initiative,” said Patama Chantaruck, Microsoft Thailand Managing Director. “The BETTER project will also support the goals laid out by the Unlimited Potential initiative in order to improve the capabilities of the Thai workforce and ensure better job opportunities. Similarly we hope that this can help those who have lost their jobs recently and put them on track to recovery.”
Meanwhile Kenan Institute Asia will be responsible for managing and implementing the project and will be in charge of developing the ICT for Entrepreneurship curriculum, which will focus on ways to help existing and potential future entrepreneurs in Thailand through a ‘learning-by-doing’ approach and real-life scenarios. The Entrepreneurship curriculum will be developed using Microsoft Office templates and software provided for free by Microsoft use by entrepreneur and to provide those templates free of charge.
Piyabutr Cholvijarn, Vice Chairman of Kenan Institute Asia said, “Kenan has long been working with Microsoft to promote IT skills amongst underserved people in Thailand through the Microsoft Unlimited Potential project. After these previous successes we were keen to get involved with the BETTER project as this collaboration will have an important positive and long-term impact on both the lives of individual workers and the country’s national economy as a whole.”
For further information and progress updates on the BETTER project, readers may visit www.microsoft.com/thailand/ca , http://www.kiasia.org and http://www.dsd.go.th/, where they will also be able to download business document templates and other self-training resources from the Microsoft Digital Literacy curriculum.
About MicrosoftFounded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Established in 1993, Microsoft (Thailand) Limited provides world-class software that is easy to use and localized to suit the local market’s needs. It also has a compelling and consistent platform to build powerful business solutions that can scale from a notebook computer to a mainframe — class multiprocessor systems using Microsoft technology. For further information, information, please visit the Microsoft (Thailand) website at: http://www.microsoft.com/thailand.
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