Employees and businessmen need to stay relevant with the times as the business environment is ever-changing, whether due to consumer trends, changes in regulations or technological advancements.
With this, skills need to be continuously upgraded. Otherwise, one may be left behind in this fast-paced environment.
Continuing education, fortunately, is more available than ever.
The Inquirer Academy is one of the players in the country that can address such a need.
Inquirer Academy’s new Executive Director, Daniel Glenn San Luis, has more plans for the academy for 2016.
We were able to interview him for our column today.
Below are excerpts:
Q: What makes Inquirer Academy different from other training providers?
We continue to develop “Core Inquirer” courses, which rely on the expertise of individuals within the Inquirer Group of Companies.
Just last week, we ran a course on dealing with media in times of crisis, which was well-attended, and about which, of course, the Inquirer has particular expertise. Soon, we will have modules on online publishing—including writing with impact for online, using apps to create and upload promotional materials quickly, and online metrics analysis. Also in the pipeline are courses on infographics and company newsletters.
We’ve found that these courses have been popular for us—in the past month, our photography course with Rem Zamora, Photo Editor of the Inquirer, was well-attended by marketing professionals, bloggers and hobbyists. Our Effective Writing courses, facilitated by Ruey de Vera and Francis Ochoa, had a diverse mix of millennials, professionals and even senior citizens. All wanted to pick up tips and tricks on improving their writing skills.
We hope that our course designs continue to be unique yet relevant.
Q: Who do you expect will benefit from these “Core Inquirer” courses?
We are targeting young corporate professionals, journalists, bloggers and graduating students. But everyone is welcome, of course. I have a friend who has a website for pet accessories who expressed interest in our mobile marketing course. She was looking for ways to increase traffic to her website and the mobile approach was perfect for her—focused and very effective. Meanwhile, our writing and communication courses tend to appeal to the youth, with the increasing complaints we hear about the supposed deterioration of the millennials’ English ability.
Q: Will the Academy also offer other journalism courses? Or expand into other fields, like leadership or management courses?
We think of ourselves as a school for all professionals, so we will not limit our offerings to journalism topics; although yes, the Inquirer Core courses will have journalism principles as a natural take-off point. We envision our courses to encompass the worlds of multimedia and business, for now. Eventually, we will also be offering management, communication, marketing, organizational excellence, and I.T. courses, among others. If we take to heart the Inquirer mission of “empowering the Filipino people” then we will endeavor to live up to this in our own unique way. We intend to uplift the Filipino people through continuing education —that those who need to enhance, upgrade or acquire the necessary skills to be more effective in the workplace will have a place to call home: the Inquirer Academy.
Join the mailing list. Visit the Facebook page, www.facebook.com/inquireracademy or the Inquirer Academy website: www.inquireracademy.com. You may also call 834-1557 for upcoming workshops.