DOST-Caraga Orients MSME Grantees of Coursera Scholarship

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Caraga region, headed by its OIC Office of the Regional Director, Assistant Regional Director for Field Operations Division Ricardo N. Varela with Engr. Noel Ajoc Technical Support Services Division Chief, conducted an orientation on April 14, 2021 for the MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) grantees of Coursera scholarships, for their project, “Readiness of MSMEs for Industry 4.0”.

The participating grantees were recommended by their respective LGUs (Local Government Units), chambers, regional offices, and educational institutions such as the Caraga State University, for online educational training to aid in the MSMEs to industry 4.0 transition. CSU has also been a recipient of the DOST Coursera scholarship and the DOST head also sits in the CSU office of the Board of Regents.

The orientation was officially opened by the Officer-in-Charge, Office of the DOST Regional Director, Assistant RD for Field Operations, Sir Ricardo Varela, who encouraged the participants and stressed the relevance of the project in advancing the economic progress of the region and that of the nation as well.

This was reiterated by Engineer Ajoc, who asked for a collaborative effort in achieving the shared vision of “building a strong science, technology, and innovation community.” The project specifically aims to capacitate the Filipino workforce and business owners in handling new technologies to cope with the fast-paced changing global economic scenario through MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) like Coursera, and to develop local consultants and trainers on emerging technologies in Caraga.

Engineer Ajoc confirmed the acceptance of the participants as the grantees who will be given the licenses necessary to avail the required courses and certifications. He briefly discussed what Coursera is and how it will prove essential in achieving the end goal of “reskilling and upskilling” MSMEs.

According to Engineer Ajoc, the learning platform provides courses uploaded by top universities around the world, ensuring that the grantees will be able to avail quality education. The orientation concluded with the discussion on the grantees’ responsibilities, which are to complete the required courses and to do a capstone project that will extend their gained knowledge to business owners in their localities. SMSA/pico