Osmeña mulls 24-hour study nooks in the City

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is contemplating on tapping universities and private sector players to establish 24-hour study cafes in the City.

Osmeña initially floated the idea in the presence of the top executives of Southwestern University (SWU Phinma) recently.

Osmeña suggested for schools to make their libraries accessible to students and provide an environment conducive for studying instead of the latter spending on expensive coffee just to linger around posh coffee shops to study.

SWU Phinma University president Chito Salazar said the administration is open to the idea of accommodating students, particularly from public schools, to make use of their library free-of-charge to provide them the environment that promotes learning.

Osmeña noted that in coffee shops such as Starbucks are always full of students at night. Cebu City being an educational center in Southern Philippines should provide this kind of facilities and that this should also be supported by the private sector.

The Mayor said the City would like to clinch joint ventures with the academe specifically for this concept.

Moreover, apart from the idea of having 24-hour study nooks, Osmeña also expressed interest in strengthening partnerships between industries and educational institutions to improve the quality of graduates and support the growing need of industries for highly skilled manpower.

Osmeña also said the City is on track with its thrust in supporting the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector, as well as to improve the career path of the growing BPO workers by providing them with avenue for growth like offering affordable masters education program.

Based on Cebu City's survey, the Mayor said about 94 percent of call center agents are interested to enroll in a masters program. This concept has already started with the City's partnership with the University of the Philippines-Cebu in a facility located at the South Road Properties (SRP).