IG Tech Group president Kim Puthkiry (centre left) and his NPIC counterpart Bun Phearin (centre right) hold up copies of the MoU signed on October 13. SUPPLIED
National Polytechnic Institute of Cambodia (NPIC) and locally-owned IT services provider IG Tech Group have entered into a partnership on real-world training, research and technical collaboration, with a focus on nurturing and employing high-quality young creative talent in engineering, technology and similar fields.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed to this effect on October 13 by NPIC president Bun Phearin and IG Tech Group president and chairman Kim Puthkiry, according to a joint press release issued on the same day.
“Under this cooperation, NPIC will provide technical support to IG Tech Group in areas relevant to the competency development for identified product project[s]. Meanwhile, both NPIC and IG Tech Group will jointly explore potential collaborative research, programmes, or real projects, on which both parties [have] mutually agreed upon,” the release said.
Phearin believes that teamwork between technical educational institutions and the private sector can be useful for creating valuable training opportunities and identifying gifted youth for businesses to hire.
“For students, they will have more opportunities to explore the real world of work where they can utilise the skills acquired from school, meanwhile, for [the] private sector, they will be able to engage [a] more dynamic workforce [that could] join their team. This win-win mechanism will also enhance the linkage of technical training to the fast development [of] technology.
“[The deal] also responds to the initiative of the Royal Government of Cambodia on Public Private Partnership[s] in which the government emphasises the important roles of [the] private sector, which [is] considered [a driving] force for human capital and economic development,” the release quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, Puthkiry stressed that IG Tech Group was built in the pursuit of entrepreneurship and upskilling.
“With our move toward high-tech innovation in the past few years, [finding a] qualified team, especially in [the] engineering field, has been extremely challenging.
“[This] partnership with NPIC will help us expedite our high-tech projects and further explore tech innovation through co-research and development programmes,” he said, as noted in the release.
Inaugurated by Prime Minister Hun Sen on May 18, 2005, NPIC is a public autonomous technical institute that aims to produce skilled and dynamic workers to support economic development in the Kingdom, the release said.
Comprising eight faculties and two centres, and offering public training in a variety of in-demand skills, NPIC has teamed up with more than 200 national and international partners, including private companies, NGOs and other technical institutes, it added.
