Program to Address Asia Pacific’s Top Concern - Shortage of Talent – By Developing the Next Generation of IT Leaders

SAP Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) today brings its well-established University Alliances Program to the Asia Pacific region. Students at Asia’s top schools will now have access to the same training benefiting the more than 150,000 students from 800 universities that have already participated in the SAP program across 36 countries in the U.S. and Europe. SAP is launching the program out of Singapore, one of Asia’s top educational hubs. By 2010, SAP expects to have made S$7 million1 in contributions to the industry in Singapore as a result of the program.

Aligned with SAP’s mission to contribute to economic growth on a grand scale, the University Alliances Program promotes scientific and technical education in tertiary institutions by providing students and lecturers around the world with access to SAP software training. The SAP training courses lead to student certifications and eventual hiring by SAP, SAP partners and customers. This in turn addresses the industry skills shortage by providing a ready pool of graduates who are already trained with hands-on practice of the SAP software.

According to IDA’s latest Annual Survey on Infocomm Manpower, Singapore’s infocomm employment growth rate has hit a new high of 8.9 percent in 2007, with the number of employed infocomm manpower reaching 130,400. As the demand for infocomm talent continues to grow, IDA and the industry have pledged to invest a further S$70 million in infocomm manpower development over the next three to five years, with the aim of deepening the technical capabilities and enhancing the global competitiveness of Singapore’s infocomm talent.

To meet the growing demand for enterprise resource planning (ERP)2 professionals, SAP has jointly collaborated with IDA to offer a SAP training course - the “Integrated SAP ERP Business Scenarios based on SAP Best Practices” (Best Practices ERP or “BPERP”) certification last year. Available at the seven institutes of higher learning in Singapore (Nanyang Polytechnic, Nanyang Technological University, National University of Singapore, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic, Singapore Polytechnic and Temasek Polytechnic), the BPERP course is a 10-day workshop that will train and certify students to use SAP ERP software based on SAP Best Practices. Upon completion of the course and passing the BPERP certification exams, students will be awarded a SAP certification which is recognised globally.

In addition, students who successfully completed the course will be able to claim up to half of the S$400 certification fee under IDA’s Critical Infocomm Technology Resource Programme (CITREP) program. To date, 250 students have already taken and passed the BPERP certification exams. SAP partners like Accenture, Singapore Computer Systems (SCS), HP, Deloitte and Electra are committed to hiring graduates from this program as it saves them a substantial amount of time for getting their prospective employees up to speed. At least 1,000 students are expected to benefit from this course by 2010 in Singapore, amounting to S$7 million in contributions to the industry by SAP.

"The BPERP programme launched by SAP, in partnership with the Institutes of Higher Learning, will enable students to enhance their understanding and competencies of leveraging infocomm to strengthen business process efficiencies and productivity. IDA encourages more students to take advantage of the BPERP so as to ensure that they have relevant and up-to-date infocomm skills in this fast-progressing sector,” said Christina Gan, Senior Director (Infocomm Security & Manpower Development), IDA Singapore.

Following the success of the BPERP certification course in Singapore, the BPERP and other suitable SAP certification courses will be offered to students across Asia Pacific Japan who can enjoy the subsidised rates when their educational institutes become members of the University Alliances Program.

“With the talent crunch facing the infocomm industry today, SAP finds it a need to help groom talents to meet the growing manpower demands of the industry. Also, we feel that it is absolutely necessary that these future IT specialists be trained in a manner that will prepare them for the real world,” said Geraldine McBride, President & CEO, SAP Asia Pacific Japan. “Through the University Alliances Program, SAP hopes to reach over 300 universities in Asia Pacific by 2010 and to help establish a good talent pool from where suitable expertise and knowledge can be drawn from by the industry.”

In Asia Pacific Japan region, the University Alliances Program will have its University Competency Center (UCC) hosted out of Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. As the dedicated data center for the universities participating in the University Alliances Program in the region, the UCC will take care of all the technical hosting aspects by operating the software, plus supporting the teaching and training of users. This allows the University Alliances members to focus on teaching SAP software rather than worrying about installing and maintaining the software on campus.

Currently, the program has drawn interest from over 100 universities in Australia & New Zealand, China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. This includes Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and National University of Singapore (NUS) in Singapore, Australian National University (ANU), University of Sydney and Melbourne University in Australia, IIM Kohizode, Xavier Labour Research Institute, Jamshedpur, IIT Kanpur in India; Waseda University, Yokohama National University and Aoyama Gakuin in Japan; and Shanghai JiaoTong University, Tsinghua University, in China. Plans are also underway to roll out the program in more tertiary institutions in those countries as well as in Malaysia, and Vietnam.

Scott Sheppard, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and Development), Queensland University of Technology, said: “QUT's real-world focus means that we have a strong emphasis on high-value education and research through key strategic partnerships.  We therefore warmly welcome this further enhancement of our long-standing and multi-dimensional cooperation with SAP.  As an institute of higher learning with a strong emphasis on IT and technology, we value this special opportunity to enhance the learning experience of both our students and their counterparts from other participating institutions.  Multilateral international cooperation and joint projects are of critical importance to QUT, and this new endeavor with SAP provides us a strong foundation for further engagement and growth.”

Note to Editor:

1 Course Value and Industry Contribution
Students of this course conducted by SAP or its training partners are normally charged S$6,900 each. As SAP is making its software and training systems available for free for at least 1,000 students to be trained by the institutes of higher learning by 2010, this is equivalent to a S$7 million contribution to the industry by SAP.

2 ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems enable a company to streamline and automate its business processes and increase its operational efficiency by planning and managing its resources more effectively. This results in better visibility and decision making, improved customer relationships and partner collaboration across its supply chain.

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software*. Today, more than 38,000 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP® applications—from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small businesses and midsize companies to suite offerings for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver® platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol “SAP.” (Additional information at http://www.sap.com)

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, product life-cycle management and supplier relationship management.

About SAP University Alliances Program
The SAP University Alliances Program provides universities with access to the latest technology and the opportunity to utilize SAP solutions in an academic environment. University faculty members are provided with the necessary teaching tools and resources to reinforce the students’ learning experience on how technology enables integrated business processes and strategic thinking. Students are equipped with fundamental knowledge and can advance further with the SAP certification opportunity to hone their SAP skills. The program is crucial in enabling a well-rounded SAP ecosystem. By supporting the development and enhancement of SAP skills among students through helping them to understand fundamental concepts, training and SAP certification courses, the Program builds a pipeline of SAP skills for customers, partners and SAP.

Since its launch in 1988, the membership of the University Alliances Program has been growing with over 800 universities in 36 countries, more than 2,200 faculty members, and 150,000 students. In the Asia Pacific & Japan region, the Program currently has universities participating in Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan and other countries.

For more information, please visit http://www.sap.com/asia/uap

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For more information, press only:
Ben Wightman, SAP Asia, +65 6768-6868, ben.wightman@sap.com
Vikki Tan, Upstream Asia, +65 6323-7377, vikki.tan@upstreamasia.com