CIIT College of Arts and Technology Digitalizes Enterprises

By Rose de la Cruz 

With the media launch on March 8 of its new course offerings, entrepreneurship and the ABM (accounting and business management) strand of Senior High School, the CIIT College of Arts and Technology in Kamuning is educating future entrepreneurs to fully digitalize their operations, including back office, marketing and human resource as well as venture into animation and eventually robotics.

Founded as an institute by a Malaysian company, CIIT then stood for Cosmopoint International Institute of Technology more than two decades ago, CIIT is now a full-fledged College of Arts and Technology, which the Commission on Higher Education regulates and supervises in keeping with the administration’s digitalization strategy for business and government.

At its 7-story school campus are numerous state-of-the-art cloud-enabled multimedia computing systems tailor-made for the Tik Tok generation of business innovators and technology entrepreneurs.

CIIT president Sherwin O told media that the new program offerings— Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship and Senior High School- accounting, business and management (ABM) strand—will more than enrich the knowledge and skills of those between ages 16 and 34 and those who consider themselves early adopters.

The course now complete the educational ecosystem of CIIT as envisioned by its founder and Board chair Elson Niel S. Dagondon, when he opened it in 2008.

CIIT now has an ecosystem of innovators and creators who can make the ideas of its students a reality, much like how Silicon Valley fosters great talents, said O.

The pandemic, which thrust the digital technology to most new business owners, was what inspired CIIT to “go full circle and give the students the chance to turn their business ideas into reality. Its unique entrepreneurship and ABM programs will revolutionize the way a business is run using different technologies in its daily operations, like CIIT itself,  O emphasized.

O said students experience their studies either through modular means or their computers, taking away such advantages as having a sprawling campus. Interesting at the 7^th floor of the campus is a gym (that I think could double up as a basketball court) with individual shower rooms and toilets. Why a gym? O explained that their survey showed that students prefer a indoor gyms once they graduate and have jobs or businesses of their own.

The walls are painted gray and bare so that students can paint them with whatever artistic concepts (that end up relating to the digital world) they wish. And the ceilings are high. There is absolutely no paper used in the building, everything is done digitally (from entrance exams, to enrollment and payment and handing of receipts of payments, and ordering food, a library café that is open until 10 p.m. where students can work on their assignments or venture into creative works with their classmates; faculty is mostly parttime (at 70 percent) and only 30 percent fully academic work, even the registrar’s office is now empty as every process is digitalized.

There is a floor dedicated to gaming lessons and a lobby where students can post their created games for everyone to play on. CIIT will not stop students from selling the games they designed and developed, but so far O is not aware if any game has been sold commercially by the students.