To satisfy the increasing call for experienced healthcare and health sciences education support professionals, the University of the Philippines-Manila and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) collaborated to develop medical-focused Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) courses.
In a statement on Feb. 20, UP Manila said it will setup a partnership with TESDA to be standardized through a Memorandum of Agreement for the innovation of the courses with the UP Manila faculty as content experts.
In a meeting with UP Manila on Feb. 19, TESDA Secretary Suharto T. Mangudadatu said the partnership is "timely" and "essential" given that there is a need to address the demands for local and international clinical care skills.
Meanwhile, UP Manila Chancellor Dr. Michael Tee highlighted the university's specific expertise in fields like advanced cadaver care for human anatomy courses, Health Informatics (Bioinformatics), disaster response for health, and technical support for simulation-based health sciences education using high fidelity mannequins, which were the possible areas to be included to the innovated TVET courses.
"We utilize simulation-based education and technology-driven teaching method for our anatomy classes. TESDA and UPM can co-create and offer courses that are geared toward operating and maintaining biomedical equipment needed for such classes," Tee said.
"This will be beneficial to schools and state universities who utilize a similar technology for their medical, nursing and health sciences classes," he added.
Moreover, the university said the partnership seeks to offer certification courses for community pharmacies, emergency response teams, and medical and dental professionals to fill in significant skill gaps in the healthcare industry.
Also, Tee said that the certification courses could be a substitute initial action for the School of Health Sciences in Baler, Tarlac, Palo, and Koronadal’s ladderized programs to "democratize access to UP education," as aimed by UP President Angelo Jimenez.
"We have opportunities here. We can either be a training center or we can have that as a non-UPCAT entry to our school of health sciences in Baler, Tarlac, Palo and Koronadal as part of the ladderized program," he said.
In addition, scholarships for UP Manila students and their families were suggested by Tee to enable skill improvement, while TESDA Regional Operations Management Office Executive Director Rosalina Constantino confirmed plans in providing scholarships on healthcare, agriculture, and information technology.