Technology company Acer Philippines’ Acer Academy has grown to more than 400 member schools nationwide after 15 years of providing technology support, training, and certification programs for colleges, universities, and K-12 schools.
Acer Academy is a membership program that gives schools access to product training, faculty and student programs, laboratory support, and skills certifications through industry partners such as Intel, Microsoft, and Google. National University (NU) was among the program’s first members when it started 15 years ago.
The partnership renewal comes as schools prepare for wider use of artificial intelligence (AI) in education. Acer is providing updated technology solutions, including AI servers that can help schools run AI applications, support research, and give students access to tools needed for learning and development.
For NU, the partnership supports its plans to integrate AI into its curriculum and school operations.
“AI just speeds up the process, so teachers need to be updated as well, in order to extract the skills of critical thinking, the other human skills, and use AI as a tool to speed things up faster, and therefore be able to achieve more,” said Jojo Castillo, senior director for technology development of NU.
Acer Academy also provides training and certification programs for school IT teams, faculty members, and students. These programs are designed to help schools develop skills based on current technology needs.
“We really make sure that we equip our community. Actually, Acer Academy is not just a program, it’s an ecosystem between Acer, the universities, the faculty, the students, and the IT support,” said Carren Garcia, head of Sales, Commercial Business Unit of Acer Philippines.
As part of the renewed partnership, Acer will provide AI servers to support NU’s efforts to improve its systems, processes, workforce capabilities, and student learning programs.
Unlike traditional servers, AI servers use more graphics processing units (GPUs) to handle AI-related tasks such as running AI applications and processing large amounts of data. Acer’s AI server became available in the Philippines last year and includes tools that help schools manage how computing resources are shared among users.
The Acer Academy program offers different partnership levels, giving member schools access to training sessions, events, technology updates, and other education programs. Acer also supports non-member schools through technology donations and outreach activities, including providing devices to schools during the pandemic.
With AI becoming more common in workplaces, Acer and NU said giving students access to updated technology and training will help prepare them for future careers.
