Tag Archives: Office Management course

MSC History Part IV – Start of 2 year courses at A. Flores St.

In 1991, MSC got the necessary permit to offer two-year courses in Office Management (OMC) and Computer Technology (CTC).  In June of that year, classes for the two courses started with fifty (50) OMC and twenty-six (26) CTC students.

MSC at that time was occupying the second floor of the Jesusa building (on the first floor was Monte de Piedad Savings Bank) along A. Flores St.  Its two classrooms had a capacity of  50 students only.  MSC had to set morning and afternoon sessions to accommodate the new two-year course students totaling more than 70.  Schedule for the short term course students were also set strategically so that there will be a classroom for each class.   Saturday and evening classes were conducted.

Lulu testing the PCs in the computer lab

The short-term courses FCO (Fundamentals of Computer Operation) and FCP (Fundamentals of Computer Programming) became important subjects for the two-year courses.  Students studied DOS, Wordstar, Lotus and Dbase – software which a teen today may never have heard of, much more know how to use.  Computer screens were black and white and if you are not so lucky, “green”.

A requirement for these subjects was a set of diskettes – those thin, square plastic sheets containing a circular disk inside.  The 3.5-inch diskettes were rare then, the 5.25-inch floppies were the “in” thing.    Computers in the lab had no hard disk drives (only the office PC had disk drives) and the diskettes contain the software and the data.  PC users today will laugh at the thought that those floppy disks can contain a maximum of only 340kb!

Windows was unheard of and the Internet had not yet arrived in this part of the globe, but yes there were computer games, among them – Pacman, Block out, Space Invaders, Sokoban, etc.

How MSC Helped Me Find The Right Career

My life at VYP-MSC  Institute of Technology is something that I will always be proud of, and look back to. Its good people and the friendly learning experience helped me find out more about my abilities and interests. Thanks to the decision I made to take Office Management Course at MSC. My certificate has certainly served as my passport to my career.

In my entire career, I never saw myself working in stressful business environments till I made my very hard decision of leaving the country eight years ago, armed with the dream of finding greener pasture. My new start abroad wasn’t very disappointing as I found a job after a month in a huge oil and gas organization. Carrying my valid MSC certificate, good computer skills, knowledge and good training plus my faith in God, I was given the chance to work as a Project Secretary in the offshore project team. That was the first entry-level job I had which was not easy for me in the beginning – working with a multi-cultural team.

Like any other Filipino worker, I experienced discrimination, being the only Filipino and female member in the project team. However, with each passing day, I felt it funny that people started coming to me for help. It was undeniably my computer skills and not-so-bad English skills that have helped me to survive and gain respect from my co-workers.

The secretarial course is in high demand in every business settings. It is a course which must be encouraged. I found job stability with this career and indeed opened for me other career options. My good accounting training at MSC led me to my present job, responsible for administrative and accounting functions.

I can say every school will give a piece of paper that would help one to acquire knowledge and skills, but very few can actually give you both, to be successful in your chosen field. This I can say: “I have found both at MSC”.

My MSC experience was indeed incredible and helped me find the right career.

Leticia Changco-Baybay
Branch Office Administrator
Silec Cable (a General Cable company)
Abu Dhabi, UAE