HP to Provide Skill Training to Graduates in Costa Rica

By Narayan Ammachchi

U.S. technology giant HP is joining hands with technical colleges and universities in Costa Rica to help the Latin American country improve the IT skills of professionals.

HP will launch a certification program and offer a variety of technology-learning courses designed to prepare graduates for employment in the country’s burgeoning technology sector.

Several analyst firms, including IDC, have often stated that ‘investment in the technology sector must be accompanied by investment in education.’ HP’s aim is to strengthen the country’s IT sector and supply the industry with more skilled employees.

In a recent survey of technology companies by IDC, over 59% of respondents talked about the need to provide skill training to graduates.

“We have launched HP Institute to address this need in Costa Rica. We will help students improve their employability,” said John Martin Barrero, General Manager, HP Central America.

HP’s Institute will also train its own employees in Costa Rica, where the U.S. company has recently shut down a call center serving English-speaking markets.  The Silicon Valley company employs more than 7000 people in the Central American country.

HP says it will focus on providing students with virtual access to the latest equipment they will encounter in the workplace and also eliminate the need for schools to invest in new hardware.