Caribbean News

Universities urged to ensure degrees are in line with Jamaica’s development goals

Published

7 years ago

October 24, 2017

#Jamaica, October 24, 2017 – Kingston – State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, has called on local universities to ensure that the degree programmes being offered are in keeping with the country’s development goals, the Government’s economic priorities, and are on par with the very best international standards.

Delivering greetings at the University Council of Jamaica’s (UCJ) sixth annual Dr. Dennis Irvine Lecture Series at The Knutsford Court Hotel in St. Andrew on October 19, Mr. Green said that as the nation becomes more developed and careers change, universities should adjust their programmes to match jobs that are currently available and will be accessible to upcoming graduates.

“We have to ensure that our tertiary programmes are relevant, and that we are not constantly training our young people in areas that are not aligned to the Government’s economic priorities,” he emphasised.

“The reality is, as a Government, we have to comprehensively relook at our tertiary funding model, and that tertiary funding model must align with the economic priorities of the day. In essence, there are a number of areas in which we lack professionals, in which we need to ramp up our training, and in which we need to guide some of our young people to choose those areas,” Mr. Green added.

He said that amidst a world of constant change and the desire to bring more trained personnel into the workforce, the country cannot afford to allow the push for more to dilute the commitment to high-quality training.

“The UCJ has not done that over the past 30 years, and neither can they afford to do so now. Let us all recommitted ourselves to the ideals of the UCJ and to ensuring that Jamaica’s tertiary institutions are providing programmes and training that are on par with the very best international standards,” the State Minister urged.

He challenged the universities to ensure that the programmes they are offering to students now, will result in them being employed immediately after completing degrees at the tertiary level.

“There are some tertiary institutions which have an 80 per cent placement rate when our young people are finished, and there are others where a number of young people are at home with degrees, with a difficulty in finding gainful employment. That is a reality that we have to treat together as we craft our future for Jamaica,” Mr. Green said.

Meanwhile, President, Northern Caribbean University (NCU), Dr. Lincoln Edwards, who was the guest speaker at the Lecture Series, said the universities have to be mindful that the offerings of the institutions depend on the demands of the students, who are their customers, with ideas of the offerings on the job market.

“Students have an eye on the job market and the skills and competencies which will position them strongly for employment. As universities respond to the growing range of demands and opportunities, and to increase in competition, they will need to become more diverse. Individual institutions must seek to occupy functional niches where there is a good match between their particular strengths and the market opportunities that exist,” Dr. Edwards said.

He added that universities also need to pay attention to globalization to influence the directions they take regarding their degree offerings, which are in keeping with international standards.

“The growth in globalization requires explicit attention to international quality assurance in education that will enable our people to maximize their potential and enable national development to the highest possible level. In order to be competitive, our universities and colleges must focus special attention on designing and implementing new quality-assurance mechanisms and systems in order to ensure that students receive high-quality and relevant education, and that the degrees and diplomas they offer are widely recognized,” Dr. Edwards said.

The Lecture Series is held in honour of the late Chairman, UCJ, Dr. Dennis Irvine, who was a distinguished educator who contributed significantly to tertiary education nationally, regionally and internationally for more than 50 years.

He served the Council as Chairman for 11 years. He was appointed as the Council’s first Chairman and served from 1987-1989. He was later reappointed in 1996 and held the position up to the time of his passing.

Release: JIS

Caribbean News

STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS EXPECTED TO ASSIST GOV’T PLANNING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Published

1 day ago

April 30, 2024

Shanieka

KINGSTON, April 29 (JIS):

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, says the outcome of discussions arising from the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) will assist in guiding the Government’s planning for climate change.

This, he points out, is important for climate mitigation as well as building Jamaica’s resilience.

“We look forward to the discussions that will, no doubt, take place. We look forward to the basis of planning for the Government to streamline its investments to ensure you have the tools that you need to better advise us, that the WRA (Water Resources Authority) has the tools to digitise its monitoring network, and that all of the agencies that touch our planning mechanisms have the tools. But we need to know what we are facing, and we’re guided by your expertise,” Minister Samuda said.

He was addressing the opening ceremony for the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in New Kingston on Monday (April 29).

Senator Samuda said given the fact that the climate has changed and continues to do so, investments in and collaborations on building Jamaica’s predictive and scientific capacity must be prioritised.

“Ultimately, we need to be able to assess our current climatic realities if we are to better plan, if we’re to insist and ensure that our infrastructure meets the needs that we need it to. I’m very happy that this event is happening… because this is a critical issue.

“Jamaica, last year, faced its worst and most severe drought… and this year, we’re already seeing the impacts of not quite as severe a drought but, certainly, a drought with severe impacts, especially in the western part of the country,” he said.

Principal Director, Meteorological Service of Jamaica, Evan Thompson, explained that the forum aims to, among other things, establish a collaboration platform for climate services providers and users to understand risks and opportunities of past, present and future climate developments, as well as improve inter-agency coordination of policies, plans and programmes.

Among the other presenters were Ambassador, European Union to Jamaica, Her Excellency Marianne Van Steen; Chief Scientist/Climatologist, Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, Adrian Trotman; and Head, Regional Climate Prediction Services, World Meteorological Organization, Wilfran Moufouma-Okia.

The Meteorological Service of Jamaica hosted the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) in partnership with the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology and the World Meteorological Organization.

The National Stakeholder Consultation is a governance mechanism that guides how different sectors or actors work together to create products that contribute to adaptation and resilience-building. It seeks to create a road map for the development and implementation of climate services to inform decision-making.

NCF-1 aims to bridge the gap between climate providers and users. It increases the use of science-based information in decision-making and operations with the aim of generating and delivering co-produced and co-designed products and services.

CONTACT: CHRIS PATTERSON

Caribbean News

Haiti- ECHO humanitarian efforts

Published

3 days ago

April 29, 2024

Shanieka

Rashaed Esson

Staff writer

#Haiti#Crisis#HumanitarianEfforts#ECHO, April 23rd, 2024 – Due to the worsening Humanitarian crisis in Haiti with an increase in death toll and injured people, The European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), launched an emergency airlift of 5 flights carrying essentials which include up to 62 tons of medicine as well as emergency shelter equipment, and water and sanitation items. These were brought to Cap Haitien according to a report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on April 19, as the international Airport in Port au prince remains closed following the gang attack last month.

Caribbean News

Dominica repeals laws criminalizing gay sex

Published

3 days ago

April 29, 2024

Shanieka

Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

#Dominica#LGBTQIA, April 24, 2034- Dominica has decided to remove colonial era laws that criminalized gay sex, joining Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda.

This comes almost five years after a man of the queer community, whose identity was withheld for his safety, spoke out against Dominica’s laws in 2019, saying they violated his rights.