2020 BOC International Survey—Philippines Report

By Board of Certification International Credentialing Committee - May 27, 2021

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The ASCP BOC International Credentialing Committee (ICC) and BOC staff created an 87-question survey, which was deployed via broadcast email and through the BOC’s social media channels.* The survey opened on March 9, 2020 and closed on May 31, 2020, and 422 individuals from 44 countries of education participated. This executive summary of the report (and the full report available at the link below) focus solely on the data collected from the 265 Filipino respondents.

General findings regarding Philippine-educated respondents

  • 35% of respondents have worked outside of the Philippines.
  • 74% of those who found employment outside of the Philippines indicated that their BOC certification or qualification was the reason they were hired.
  • 95% of respondents indicated that BOC certification is popular in the Philippines.
  • 81% of respondents are aware of the types of continuing education (CE) activities that can be used towards ASCP BOC’s Credential Maintenance Program (CMP).
  • 76% of respondents indicated that they prefer earning their CE credits in person.
  • 72% of respondents indicated that when they do attend a conference in-person it is primarily to earn additional CE.
  • 261 out of 265 respondents use some form of social media—91% use Facebook, 68% use YouTube, 68% use Instagram, 31% use LinkedIn, 17% use WhatsApp, 31% use Twitter, and 6% use Snapchat.

Why the Philippines?

With a total of 14,636 MLS(ASCPi) first-time examinees and 10,836 MLS(ASCPi) certificants since 2006, the Philippines represents the BOC’s largest and most successful MLS(ASCPi) foreign market. It therefore makes sense to start the process of analyzing existing international markets by focusing on the Philippines.

There are many reasons why ASCP/ASCPi certification is popular with individuals from the Philippines. One of the primary reasons is ASCP/ASCPi certification is accepted for work eligibility and licensure in a number of different countries.

The appeal of ASCPi certification for employment outside of the Philippines is further illustrated by responses to question 15 of the International Survey (see Appendix B, page 14 of the full report linked below), where 35% of respondents indicated they have or are currently working outside of the Philippines. Of those 35% who indicated they are currently working outside of the Philippines, 59% said it is an ASCP BOC credential that qualified them for work eligibility.

Overall, the 2020 International Survey confirmed a number of assertions the BOC had about the Philippines’ credential market. The most important of these assertions is that MLS(ASCPi) certification is appealing to Philippine-educated individuals due to its portability (ie, its perceived usefulness for work eligibility, emigration, visa purposes, etc.). Other confirmed assertions include the usefulness of investing in exhibiting at the Philippine Association of Medical Technologists (PAMET) Inc.’s annual convention in Manila and that CMP participation by Filipinos is relatively high. The survey also revealed a number of things the BOC was not fully aware of concerning Philippine educated individuals, such as employment, CE preferences, membership societies, laboratory conference preferences, and social media habits.

The full 2020 BOC International Survey—Philippines Report is available here.

*The number of questions presented to a respondent varied based on their employment history, thus the average respondent answered approximately 40 questions from the database.