Do Universities Prepare Budgets for Transcription Services?

According to Grand View Research, the U.S. transcription market size was valued at $25.98 billion as of 2022. The same research also shows it is expected to expand at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.8% from 2023 to 2030. This is unsurprising given the wide variety of industries that require transcription services nowadays.

One industry that relies heavily on transcription services is Academia, as researchers sometimes need transcriptions for their studies. Academic research transcriptions is the process of turning the spoken data gathered for academic research into text. Often, this involves transcribing video interviews, audio files, and focus group discussions. By doing so, researchers can easily organize the data for their study.

However, transcribing audio can sometimes take up time they could use to focus on other tasks. As such, they enlist the help of transcription services, with the assistance of their university or college, to save time.

But enlisting the aid of transcriptionists requires money. So, how do college departments obtain the funding needed to enlist transcription services? Read the rest of the article below to learn how universities afford transcription services.

Transcription Services: How Do University Departments Afford Them?

Some may wonder where researchers get the funding to enlist the aid of academic transcription services to transcribe their audio or video files. Simply put, universities make room for such services in the budget. Often, this is done when a department requests additional funding for its transcription needs.

How University Departments Request Funds for Transcription Services

Explain Why Transcription is Necessary

 One way university departments can request additional funds for a transcription service is by explaining why it’s necessary in the first place. There are three main reasons why transcriptions are sometimes needed. These include:

• Prevention of expensive fines.
• It helps unify the department’s internal workflow.
• Transcription increases a research’s visibility online.

By using these three points to argue your case for additional funding, the university is more likely to increase the department’s budget. This, in turn, will allow researchers to enlist the aid of a transcription company.

Highlight How Transcriptions Assist Students in Learning

Nowadays, transcriptions can make a huge difference in how well students absorb learning material for their studies. By using this as a reason when requesting for funds to enlist the help of a transcription service, the university will be more open to oblige with the department’s request.

Remember, with transcriptions, notes can easily be made available online. Thanks to this, students can search for what they need instead of spending more time reviewing their notes. It also eliminates their worry about missing something important while taking notes. 

Apart from helping students quickly look up notes, transcriptions can also assist students who have to miss a class because of personal or medical emergencies. By transcribing the day’s lectures, students can catch up to their peers in the discussion despite having missed the day’s lessons.

Finally, by having rush transcription services transcribe the day’s lessons, exam prep can be easier for the students. This is because not only are they no longer relying on their notes, but their professors and peers can leave useful information and notes on areas that may be difficult to grasp for some. As a result, students can understand the topic better, allowing them to study for the exams more efficiently and effectively.

Emphasize How Transcriptions Improve Accessibility

Finally, when appealing to the university for a budget for transcription services, departments should be sure to emphasize how transcriptions help improve the accessibility of both study and research materials. Not only are students busy people whose time is better spent taking notes, but recent times and technology have also given rise to the prevalence of online study.

By transcribing audio or video recordings of lectures and interviews, the university can make materials more available for its students. This, in turn, will allow students to study at their own pace. In addition to this, apart from allowing students to study at their own pace, transcriptions also help disabled students gain access to education.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, around 21% of undergraduate students and 11% of post-baccalaureate students have some form of disability. Some of these students are deaf or hard of hearing, making listening to lectures difficult. This is where transcriptions come in to help. Not only will transcriptions create a more inclusive environment for the university, it will also prevent disabled students from falling behind on their studies compared to their peers.

By making education more accessible through transcriptions, the university could attract more students to enroll. This scenario would be good for the university’s revenue, as they're more likely to dedicate a portion of a department’s budget to hiring academic transcription services.

Transcribing audio and interview files for academic research can be time-consuming. Sometimes, transcribing could even be challenging to accomplish on your own. Therefore, if transcriptions are what you need, let TranscriptionWing assist you.

Thanks to their 20 years in the transcription business, TranscriptionWing is the expert to turn to if you need academic research transcriptions. With additional services such as machine transcript clean-up, translations, and even meeting minutes or closed captioning, you can further enhance your transcripts and make them even more accessible. Sign up today to get started and receive precise and accurate transcripts of your audio and video interviews.