Manila, Philippines – MARKETECH APAC, the digital media for the marketing and advertising industry in the APAC region, has recently inked a partnership with the Communication and Media program of Centro Escolar University (CEU), one of the highly respectable universities in the Philippines, to officially groom media and communications majors for the professional world through a special internship program.
Joven Barceñas, the founder of MARKETECH APAC, and who is in fact, a proud alumnus of the university, has officially signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the university on 2 February, to onboard media and communications students into the company and have them foray into their professional experience.
Present in the virtual signing are Ricky Rosales, program head for Communication and Media at CEU Manila; Marietta Alvarez, the program head for Communication and Media at CEU Malolos; and most especially, Dr. Maria Rita D. Lucas, the dean of the School of Education, Liberal Arts, Music and Social Work at CEU; and Dr. Ma. Cristina D. Padolina, CEU’s university president and chief academic officer.
Lucas said in the virtual event that the university is always glad to witness students come in full circle – from graduating to the university, establishing their own endeavours, and then coming back to their roots to give back the school that moulded them; just like what Barceñas has presently done.
“And then finally helping us with the goal that we have of forming and moulding our students to be quality and ethical communication practitioners,” said Lucas.
Barceñas, who founded MARKETECH APAC in the middle of the pandemic in 2020, shared, “When I launched MARKETECH APAC in 2020, there were so many aspirations and dreams that I thought of and planned. And one of them is to reach out to my alma mater, Centro Escolar University and offer internship opportunities to Escolarians and be instrumental in their professional development as they prepare to embark on a new and exciting chapter of their lives.”
“Today is an exciting moment for me as the founder of MARKETECH APAC as this partnership allows me to contribute to the skills development of the new generation of communication and media professionals in the country,” added Barceñas.
Padolina, CEU’s university president, shared how she has seen the internship experience becoming a substantial credential in undergraduates’ curriculum vitae and therefore expects the new partnership with MARKETECH APAC to be more than just an academic requirement, but a genuine source of professional development for students.
Padolina comments, “It’s very good to partner with somebody who is from CEU because we know that you know the philosophy of CEU, [and] you know the values that we want to cultivate. So we’re very confident that you would be able to give a very good experience to our students so that it’s not [just] something [that is] a line in their CV, but it really is a strong contribution to their entire experience and to what they bring to their profession.”
Rosales, meanwhile, shared how timely the partnership is, especially since during this period, classes are still implemented virtually in the Philippines, which makes it much more challenging to deploy students for their internship program.
“[We were asking] where will we partner during this time that we will have a virtual OJT (on-the-job training). We don’t want to you know, compromise our students with other companies that [don’t] have [a] purely online [setting] during this time,” said Rosales.
