BPO growth needs closer industry-school ties.

Byline: Marites S. Villamor

CEBU CITY - Business process outsourcing (BPO) stakeholders here yesterday called for stronger academe-industry cooperation to address the skills gap that has hampered the growth of their industry.

"There's a need for a grand-scale academe-industry linkage. The solution should be done at different levels, because some of these problems should have been addressed in kindergarten," Joel Mari S. Yu, managing director of Cebu Investment Promotions Center, said in an interview at the sidelines of the annual Cebu ICT & BPO Conference held as part of the Cebu Business Month celebration.

Mr. Yu said Cebu City, which has been listed by advisory firm Tholons among the …