Outsourcing in the Philippines is on track to meet revenue and employment goals for 2015, according to an industry leader. This year, the industry aims to create 1.23 million jobs and generate $21.8 billion in revenues. Outsourcing Philippines, the country’s information technology and business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) sector, was one of the top drivers of the Philippine economy in 2014, creating more than one million jobs and generating $18.9 billion in revenues.

During the Cebu ICT-BPM Conference held earlier this month, Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) chief executive officer Jomari Mercado said that the Philippines outsourcing industry is strengthening its partnership with the academe to sustain the country’s talent pool. IBPAP has implemented the Service Management Program (SMP) in colleges and universities across the country. The program aims to train students for entry-level positions in the IT-BPM sector.

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) also showed its support to Outsourcing Philippines by allotting P2.2 billion in 2016 to expand the coverage of their Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) for ICT-BPM. This figure is a P200 million increase from 2015’s budget. The educational programs are expected to boost the growth of the Philippines outsourcing sector by 15 percent, according to Mercado.