OPEN HOUSE AT MTC ACADEMY

Scholarships for BPO skills of OFW Dependents Brings Hope for Displaced Workers

In a recent visit by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to Davao City last February 19, 2009, Davaoenos welcomed the good news that the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) has continued to offer scholarships for skills training for OFW’s dependents. The scholarship called, “Skills-for-Employment Scholarship Program (SESP)” enables a qualified applicant to avail of either a one-year or a six-month technical vocational course with financial assistance of P14,500.00 paid directly to the training provider. OWWA beneficiaries, to include the spouse of a married OFW, children not older than 21 years old, or a sibling not older than 21 years of a single OFW, may now qualify for application to the SESP.

While the OWWA scholarship may be used for any technical training program, the ICT & IT-BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) industry of Davao City through TADI (Transcription Alliance of Davao, Inc.) has emphasized the need for qualified transcription manpower as the demand for trained transcribers continues to rise. The 2008 projection for number of transcription jobs is seen to grow by at least 35% over previous year.

Since 2007, MTC Academy, a transcription training service provider, has trained and graduated 8 number of OWWA scholars. Many of these scholars have been extended job placement assistance and have been deployed in various transcription service companies operating of Davao City. Some OWWA scholar/graduates have also successfully transitioned to become home-based transcription service providers. MTC Academy will continue to accept OWWA-SESP scholars for training in business, legal or medical transcriptions.

Now, more than ever, there is a pressing need for the workforce to build BPO-related skills to cope with the projected robust growth of the non-voice sector (transcriptions, data entry, web & graphics development and animation). With the increasing number of displaced OFW workers, the IT-BPO industry is seen as a bright spot that can cushion the impact of the global crisis to the Philippine economy.

5.66 Billion of PGSP Subsidy in 2009 Up for Grabs for Davaoeños

Since 2006 the government has aggressively pursued the goal of 1 Million jobs by 2010 through the Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP). For the year 2009, a total of 809,800 scholarship slots are up for grabs under the PGSP or the Pangulong Gloria Scholarship Program administered by the Technical Educational Skills and Development Authority (TESDA). The announcement was made by Regional Director Elmer K. Talavera during a meeting with technical vocational schools last February 9, 2009 at the Korea-Philippines Training Center in Buhisan, Tibungco, Davao City.

RD Talavera also mentioned that Davao del Sur including Davao City will be awarding a total of 14,000 scholarships. "The scholar is also given a daily allowance of P60 to cover for transportation and food while in attendance to the program," Talavera said.

Included in the TESDA list of programs which can qualify under the PGSP program is the Finishing Course in Medical Transcription NCII (160 hours) and Finishing Course in Legal Transcription NCII (160 hours). Since 2006, MTC Academy, a transcription training provider has accepted to its transcription training program over 100 TESDA scholars. The visually impaired (VIs) are among the recipients of the scholarship and several graduates are now working with local transcription companies in Davao City.

The IT-BPO industry in Davao City through its prime mover, ICT Davao Inc. welcomes the PGSP implementation as it gears up to encourage broad participation for BPO careers which is seen to grow by 35% in 2008. BPO employment is expected to contribute positively to improving the quality of life among Davaoenos as more ICT and IT-BPO investments is expected to flow into the City especially after the highly successful participation in the e-Services, an annual ICT event, where the Davao delegation sat in numerous business matching meetings.

8 week-Legal Transcription program now available at MTC Academy-Davao City

The demand for qualified individuals to take on the task of writing accurate and grammatically correct legal records has been growing. These individuals are known as legal transcriptionist/transcribers. Legal transcribers take some of the workload from lawyers and paralegals needing to keep accurate records but do not have the time to construct them. This profession is rising in importance as the need for accurate documentation and organized legal system increases. Data capture and transcriptions in the legal world is critical as it affects the speed by which justice is served.

Just like medical and business transcriptions, legal transcription uses the latest technology to convert legal dictations such as oral arguments, trial cases, court hearings and proceedings and legal interviews from voice to text thus creating official documents. The Legal Transcription program at MTC Academy is an eight (8) week program with a pre-requisite course of 1- 4 weeks depending on the student-applicants’ entry-level skill set. The program covers the essentials of legal terminology, types of legal documentation, professional ethics in legal transcription and common rules in legal documentation.

Using the revolving curriculum for most of its programs allowing classes to start every month, MTC Academy has also restructured its program costs thus enhancing the value for money for all of its courses with low down payment and easy monthly installments extended to all qualified applicants.

Supplying more than 50% of Davao City’s manpower requirement to its corporate partners, MTC Academy located at E.Quirino Avenue corner Gen Luna St. (082-2226822) continues to fill up vacancies for transcribers by providing FREE job placement assistance for its transcription graduates to companies here in Davao and as far as Manila and Cebu.

MTC Introduces New, More Affordable Transcription Programs in 2009

Many large business owners today have a global view of the outsourced transcription industry and generally do not pose objections to getting the job done outside of country borders as long as it gets done on time and work is consistently accurate.

The good news is, the increasing demand for transcribers is now not just limited to medical but also now include legal and general/business transcriptions. The demand for qualified transcribers has continued its upswing trend and Davao City operators have continued to experience to date some degree of shortage of qualified and trained transcribers in the areas of medical and legal transcriptions.

MTC Academy’s desire to provide more value has given rise to a curriculum innovation that now includes program tracks in building transcription skills at the intermediate and advanced levels for General, Legal and Medical transcriptions. The tracks are so designed to enable a beginner-student to primarily build basic skill sets such a keyboarding, computer operations, listening for accents, English proficiency and familiarity with transcription technology at the BASIC or pre-requisite level.

For flexibility, the MTC curriculum allows students (college graduates or undergraduates from any course background) possessing basic skills to get an exemption from some pre-requisite courses and move forward to enrolling in any of the 3 main transcription tracks General Transcriptions 1(GT1), Legal Transcriptions 1 (LT1) or Medical Transcriptions 1 (MT1). To further season the transcription-trainee, MTC encourages its students to complete the advance programs of GT2, LT2 or MT2.

Using the revolving curriculum for most of its programs allowing classes to start every month, MTC Academy has also restructured its program costs thus enhancing the value for money for all of its courses. This innovation has brought about a reduction in tuition fees ranging from 30-50% for all of its 2009 programs.

Supplying more than 50% of Davao City’s manpower requirement to its corporate partners, MTC Academy located at E.Quirino Avenue corner Gen Luna St. (082-2226822) continues to fill up vacancies for transcribers by providing job placement assistance for its transcription graduates to companies here in Davao and as far as Manila and Cebu.

BRIGHT PROSPECTS SEEN FOR LEGAL TRANSCRIPTION

Several transcription companies in Davao have started to offer services transcribing legal dictations or records in the form of oral arguments and trial cases primarily for US clients. With the economic downturn in the US, there is increased interest to outsource work to destinations that can offer lower cost while providing quality work such as the Philippines.

Legal transcription has come into the public view recently being recognized for its efficient and professional influence on legal records and is steadily becoming a popular trend in the legal field.

Almost everything that takes place in the civil and criminal court systems requires hard copy documentation. The information is either dictated or recorded in the courtroom or at deposition hearings, as well as in law offices. The dictations often take the form of testimonies, pleadings, interrogatories (questions and answers), reviews of administrative hearings and the like. The process used for operations is the same as that in the medical transcription industry.

The main users of these services are attorneys and law firms, courts, public defenders' and prosecutors' offices, public utility companies, publicly funded legal service projects and community legal service programs. The other users would be corporate legal departments, insurance companies, financial institutions, real estate and title agencies, state and federal government agencies.

Legal transcriptionists may become so proficient that they can actually undertake paralegal duties working directly for lawyers, court reporters, law offices, transcribing service companies and other transcription service contractors/providers.

Those looking to develop their career in legal transcription should have a solid understanding of legal terminology. They should have impeccable grammar and a good command of the English language. A competency for medical transcription helps those who desire to switch to legal transcription because of their familiarity with the transcription technology.