PRC lists in demand college courses

Students looking to be hired immediately upon graduation should steer away from courses like nursing, criminology and education, according to the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

Instead, they would do well to go into the following fields: Optometry, nutrition and dietetics, guidance counseling, social work, medical technology, pharmacy, library science, psychology and dentistry.

The advice for students came from PRC Commissioner Jennifer Jardin-Manalili at Thursday’s launching of the government agency’s radio show on dzRJ AM 810 in Malate, Manila.

She was backed up by PRC Chair Teresita Manzala who noted that from 2005 to 2010, there was an increase in the number of people who took the board exam for criminology, fisheries technology, radiologic technology, nursing, nutrition and dietetics.

On the other hand, the number of board exam takers in dentistry, medical technology, optometry, physical and occupational therapy and mining engineering went down.

Manzala said that to measure if the labor supply was in proportion to the job market demand in a particular profession, they took note of the number of people who passed the board.

Based on their findings, there was an oversupply of licensed professionals vying for jobs in the fields of nursing, education and criminology.

Manalili explained that “oversupplying” occurs because the career choices of college students are “based on demands [from the] previous years.”

No longer in demand

“For example, in 2001 and 2002, nursing was in demand. But by the time those students graduated, the market was already closed,” she said.

For that reason, the PRC is working on coming up with “short-term and long-term projections” for local and foreign job markets and demand trends, Manalili said.

Manzala, meanwhile, said that as far as nursing was concerned, there was an oversupply because board passers were unable to meet the “two-year bedside experience” required by hospitals abroad.

At the same time, she warned against “paid volunteerism,” a practice some nurses are forced to resort to since the experience they gain would not be recognized by international hospitals.

She added, however, that some nurses had been hired as medical transcriptionists and telemetrists in in business process outsourcing industry.

Manzala said the PRC also forwards its supply and demand data to the Departments of Education and Labor and Employment so that their officials could take these into consideration for their career counseling programs.