CORFO launches a campaign to encourage study in the area of technologyPublished: September 1, 2009
The aim is to show school leavers the benefits of choosing technical and professional degrees associated with information technology, encouraging them to form part of the emerging global services industry.
The Chilean Economic Development Agency (CORFO), through its InvestChile program, launched its "Be part of the future" campaign. Through this campaign, CORFO hopes to show high school students the benefits of choosing a career in the global services industry (offshoring) in Chile.
Additionally, CORFO introduced a new undergraduate loan for students of information technology (IT). This loan will be targeted towards middle-income families and provide resources of up to around US$2,000 per year.
These resources will be awarded by the bank and cover annual enrolment and tuition fees, with an additional 20% available for other expenses.
"These are two important initiatives that the global services cluster is promoting in order to develop and improve Chile's human capital. This will help position Chile as an investment platform and as a location for multinational firms wishing to add value to their global services. Chile needs approximately 35 thousand professionals and IT technicians in order to be a major player in this industry," explained Carlos Álvarez, Executive Vice-President of CORFO and President of the Global Services Cluster.
"Be part of the Future"This six month campaign, aimed at high school students considering degrees at both public and private universities, is comprised of three stages. Firstly, there will be a direct marketing campaign aimed at 60 schools - 30 in Santiago and 30 in Valparaíso. Secondly, students selected from each school will visit some of the 50 international companies located in Chile, including: Oracle, Evaluserve, Synopsys, Everis, Teleperformance, Orion, Appear Networks and Wise Ocean. Lastly, there will be various advertising campaigns on radio, television, digital media and billboards.
CORFO has developed several initiatives focused on human capital and the consolidation of the global services cluster. Some of these initiatives include: 3,000 CORFO English language scholarships for technicians and professionals in the IT industry (2008 ? 2009), the 2008 CORFO Global Services Job Fair, and the continuously updated National Register of English Speakers.
Those who want to learn more about this campaign or the relevant undergraduate loans can visit
www.separtedelfuturo.cl or
www.corfo.cl.