AIM targets expanding transnational programs in 2027

The Asian Institute of Management (AIM) said on Wednesday that it aims to expand its transnational degree program offerings next year to produce more globally competitive Filipino graduates in the era of digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI).

“We will have more undergrad programs and hopefully we can increase the [batch’s cap] number,” AIM Professor and Aboitiz School of Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship Head Christopher P. Monterola told BusinessWorld in an interview.

“There will be a lot of things that will happen next year,” he added.

The first transnational undergraduate double-degree program launched by AIM in 2022 was in partnership with the University of Houston C.T. Bauer College of Business.

With this collaboration, students enrolled in AIM’s Bachelor of Science in Data Science and Business Administration (BSDSBA) would also earn a Bachelor of Business Administration, Major in Management Information Systems (BBA, MIS) from the University of Houston.

“This is a case of one plus one larger than two. Each of us has unique strengths that we provide in a transnational educational experience which neither of us can deliver alone,” University of Houston C.T. Bauer College of Business Dean Xianjun Geng said in a media briefing.

“The student coming from this program has a very unique competitive advantage that is really unmatched,” he added.

The program aims to produce “globally fluent professionals” equipped with skills to withstand and adapt to the constant changes brought by AI.

“As a business school dean, I’m actually very optimistic at this moment that business school plays,” Mr. Geng said. “Our dual degree program is aimed to produce talent which both understand technology but possesses very critical, important soft skills.”

In the Philippines, about 12.7 million Filipinos are exposed to generative AI (GenAI), according to the International Labour Organization. However, only 14.9% of firms use AI tools.

The report added that while only 3.6% of jobs have the “highest GenAI exposure with elevated risk of job displacement” nationwide, around two in five jobs in the National Capital Region (NCR) are exposed to GenAI, particularly in the IT-BPM sector, finance, and administration.

“We know that economies, industries, and markets are all going global, so we need a global education,” Mr. Monterola said.

“The total number of jobs that will be lost is about 80 million or something because of AI… but the other interesting story is that there will be more jobs that will be created because of this new technology,” he added. “Our hope is that we will be able to go that way.”

The transnational undergraduate double-degree program currently has 150 students, with each batch capped at 50 students.

Mr. Monterola noted that a possible increase in the number of students per batch is still under discussion with the partner university. “Note that they also have a cap on the total number of global students that they can accommodate, and we are working on that constraint.”

Possible additions to AIM’s undergraduate courses will include business and entrepreneurship programs, among others. — Almira Louise S. Martinez