IlluMyFi

A double-digit increase is expected in the number of Filipinos looking to secure a visa for travel to Italy next year, as tens of thousands of Filipinos continue to fly to the European country for tourism or business trips. Italian Ambassador to the Philippines Marco Clemente on Thursday said the embassy has so far issued 35,000 visas this year, which is more than 50 percent increase compared to the 23,000 issued in 2022. "I think we are a very interesting country to visit," Clemente said when asked what is driving the growth during the inauguration of the Italy visa application center in Taguig. "But I also hope that there would be an increase of interest for the Filipino business, as a destination for doing business," he added. Clemente said that about one-third of the visas issued are for seafarers, while the remaining two-thirds are for tourists and Filipinos looking to visit family members. The Italian Embassy in Manila has recently opened visa application centers in four key cities in the Philippines, the main one in Taguig and the other three in Cebu, Batangas, and Davao. The embassy has touted the facilities to be state of the art, with additional services such as premium lounges, prime time submissions beyond normal working hours, personal assisted services, and translation services, among others. Visa applicants also get dedicated call center support, along with a click-to-talk facility, webchat, email and chatbot services. "[The] Philippines is a key source [for the] tourism and business market for Italy and we are taking every possible measure to ease and streamline processes for travelers. The establishment of these new centers is an important step toward this strategy to further develop our bilateral relations," said Clemente. "These new visa application centers will help us in providing high-quality service to Italy visa applicants in the Philippines through a seamless visa application submission process," he added. Italy's statistics office, Istituto Nazionale di Statistica, reported in 2008 that there were 113,686 documented Filipinos living in Italy, a substantial increase from 105,675 in the previous year.

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Bearish/Bullish

25.12.23 09:34

by globalnation.inquirer.net

CHEd to expand teacher training beyond Cambodia | Global News

After a successful pilot run in Cambodia, a Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) program that seeks to improve the skills of Filipinos teaching overseas to help them qualify for promotions and higher salaries will be introduced in other countries. In a recent statement, CHEd Chair Prospero de Vera III announced that 16 Filipinos working in Cambodia passed the Philippine license examination for professional teachers given in September in Bangkok, Thailand. Of the 16, six were products of the agency's Developing Global Filipino Teachers (DGFT) pilot program, a joint initiative between the CHEd and the Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh launched in October 2020. It aims to "equip, capacitate and enhance the competencies of Filipino teachers in Cambodia" to allow them to land better teaching positions and higher salaries. "After the successful pilot of the international DGFT program in Cambodia, the commission will work with our Foreign Service Posts so that we can reach more overseas Filipino teachers," De Vera said. According to him, the program has so far benefited 1,006 Filipinos who have yet to pass the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) exam for teachers. "They are sought after here in Cambodia as they don't just teach and educate; they also nurture their students," said Philippine Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia Amelia Aquino. The DGFT was conceptualized after the Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh alerted the CHEd in 2019 about the plight of some 1,152 Filipinos working there as teachers. Over 1,000 of them were receiving low salaries despite their many years in service because they were not licensed by the PRC, according to De Vera. To help them, the CHEd asked for assistance from three Philippine universities considered centers of excellence in teacher education: Saint Paul University, Cebu Normal University, and Philippine Normal University. According to De Vera, the program is designed to equip Filipino teachers with the necessary competencies in important dimensions of the teaching profession, 21st-century pedagogy, global citizenship and internationalization, digital literacy, and ethical values. In particular, the DGFT helps Filipino professionals in Cambodia who are not education graduates and want to take the PRC exam for teachers as well as education graduates who are not yet licensed. It also provides assistance to in-service teachers who want to enhance their competencies and impact in the classroom and beyond to understand global issues, and those teaching English to non-English speakers. Earlier this year, a study conducted by the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) revealed that the country's education system was not properly preparing teachers to provide quality education to students. Based on an analysis of 12 years' worth of data taken from the PRC website regarding teacher licensure examinations and from CHEd, the PBEd said that more than half, or 56 percent of local schools offering teacher education had posted below-average passing rate...