Melvin Nicolas

UP Information Technology Development Center (UPITDC)

On February 26, 2004, upon then UP President Francisco Nemenzo's recommendation, the UP Board of Regents (BOR) approved the creation of the ITTC Program under the Office of the Vice-President for Development. The BOR appointed a Program Director for UP ITTC on July 22, 2004. For its full-scale implementation, the University proposed a project for funding by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). This was dubbed as the Japan-Philippines Technical Cooperation Project on Philippine IT Human Resource Development (ITHRD), which was approved by JICA and started operation on July 20, 2004, for a term of four years (extended until 2009). In the Record of Discussions signed by JICA and the University on July 9, 2004, the project's purpose was stated as: to conduct high-level and practical IT training in cooperation with other universities and industries, and to match the needs of the industry. In June 2005, the UP ITTC launched its one-year certificate course. On August 31, 2009, the Center concluded its initial audit for certification to the ISO 9001:2008 International Standards with ABS Quality Evaluations. The Center became the first IT training center in the Philippines to be ISO 9001:2008 certified. In 2012, the center was renamed as the University of the Philippines Information Technology Development Center (UP ITDC) upon approval of the UP BOR. The renaming comes with expanded roles and functions with focus on IT training, faculty, research, and industry-academe collaboration. Dr. Jaime D. L. Caro, Assistant Vice President for Development of the UP System, serves as the Director of the UP ITDC.