Every year, our future graduates design and create a capstone project with real clients and present their proposal to members of the IT industry in the Philippines.
Third-year students are given one semester to begin their proposal documentation and build client relationships. Before they can begin their project, a panel made up of University of San Carlos faculty members and members of the IT industry, as well as PN alumni, must approve it—with revisions if necessary.
On December 1st, 2018, 11 groups defended their project proposal at the University of San Carlos. Each group presented their proposals and answered questions from the panel. The panel then proceeded to convene and deliberate on the feasibility and complexity of each proposal. PN staff were also present to show support and give encouragement.
They made it through after so many challenges in preparing for their proposal defence. But with help from the staff and people from the industry/company, they finished their documentation. They are no longer just some students in front of the panels but young professionals.
Jun Rey Ansing
Example of Slide Presentations
The students in their Presentation Skills Workshop
Some of the projects included an automated payroll system using biometrics data for a well-known English school, a resource management system for a spa, and a carpooling system for one of our long-time industry partners. Among the projects proposed was to create a Daily Time Record Web and Mobile Application that PN scholars in their internship can use to efficiently track their rendered hours and PN can use to monitor their attendance.
The preparation stage
In preparation for the event, PN staff dedicated their evenings to set up a mock proposal defence with the third year students a month before to help provide feedback and guidance. We also provided a Presentation Skills Workshop for the students to support them in creating professional slide presentations 3 weeks before their defence.
We feel very agitated since we have little idea of what will happen during the presentation. It’s a good thing that PN conducted a mock defence to give us ideas of what our proposal defence would look like… and our feeling of nervousness diminished. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
Breza QuitoThe volunteer panellists
We invited different members of the IT industry, specifically in software development in Cebu as well as PN alumni with at last 2 years’ experience in the field to become our panellists for the defence. Accenture sent 9 volunteers for the event: Anthony Undang, Bryan Lumije, Alessandro T. Belarmino, Noreen R. Barrita, Narciso R. Toque, Donna Mae E Nuevo, Gregory Rafael L. Gochuico, Jerson Castro, and Nolan Rey E. Tagle. Other industry partner volunteers included Paul Yu from iComm International and Orville Avila from Cloud Ninja. Three alumni panellists also volunteered their time and effort with us: Joan de los Santos, Gerabeth Bandino, and Iñaki Ibarra. Finally, 6 faculty members from USC served as chairperson for the panellists: Dr. Angie C. Canillo, Mr. Gran G. Sabandal, Mr. Joshua Baz, Dr. Joan M. Tero, Engr. Ean Jason C. Velayo, and Mr. Glenn B. Pepito.
Third-year students with Industry panellists and IT and Training Manager Rene Abdallah
I was glad that I was invited to be part of it. I felt happy that I was able to help even on small things; for students to grow professionally in their respective field of study. Overall, it’s good to know students were able to have a client for their thesis and were able to gather enough information for them to work with.
Orville AvilaAgreeing to be a panellist is a serious undertaking with heavy responsibilities that include monitoring our scholars throughout their projects. We are truly grateful to all the people who volunteered their time, without whom this step of our students’ journey would not have been possible.
The students will be having their final defence on April, a month before their graduation.