Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, March 31, 2023 – Following years old requests from the UK to pare down the program, accusations of curry favoring from local students and even a lawsuit, the Ministry of Education is once again trying to revamp how scholarships are disseminated through the Turks & Caicos Islands Education Financial Assistance Policy (TCIEFAP).
The result of the latest attempt is a tightly trimmed program with only 65 scholarships on offer for next year. The Ministry made the announcement in a press release on March 24th.
It also establishes a far more competitive scholarship awards process.
It was only four years ago that the then PDM administration increased the scholarship award budget by a massive 55 percent, and five years ago, that they increased in the priority areas from 23 to 82. In 2019, it awarded 66 international scholarships of 157, an award rate of 42 percent.
At that time, the Ministry of Education was challenged to design a scholarships’ program which was both supportive of filling vital skills gaps and fiscally sustainable.
The PNP also maintained a hefty scholarship program; in 2022, 93 applicants of 167 were successful in their bids to have government funded education, an award rate of 55 percent.
In the most recent announcement, the Government explained that it will now approve a defined number of awards under specific areas and will publish an advertisement outlining a short-list of programmes, to receive awards annually. That is set to begin this year and the 2023/2024 list of the pre-approved scholarship awards is already published.
Not only does this cut down the number of scholarships to be awarded, but it also seemingly leaves the possibility for the Ministry to adjust what area gets the most or least scholarships on a year-by-year basis, allowing them to meet labour market demands.
It is a deviation from the way things had been done with no pre-set number of awards on the table, allowing the Education Advisory Committee to award as many qualified applicants as the budget could or would allow.
The Ministry says the overarching goals of this change are: “To ensure that scholarship offerings, as well as the associated application, review and award processes are objective, transparent, empowers the applicants but moreover continues to close the labour market gaps in the Turks & Caicos Islands through strategic and intentional Human Capital Development strategies.”
Of the 65 scholarships to be awarded this year, they will be divided as such:
- Health – 8
- Education – 7
- Planning & Engineering – 6
- Hospitality & Tourism – 3
- Science & Technology – 6
- Business, Finance & Management – 6
- Technical & Vocational Education & Training – 6
- Disaster Management & Social Sciences – 5
- Logistics Management & Communication – 5
- Law – 3
- Athletics – 3
- Special Needs – 3
- National awards – 4
Only National Scholarship Awards and recipients of the Athletic Financial Assistance Awards will be left open to facilitate the applicant’s selection.
Anticipating questions from the public, the ministry said this: “We hasten to highlight that the list of priority areas has not shifted tremendously and as such will not adversely affect students who have already applied. The Ministry has intentionally extended the application period to encourage as many applicants as possible.”
The trimming of the scholarship program comes at a time when the Turks and Caicos is expanding at home higher education opportunities to never before heights. There are partnerships coming for the Turks and Caicos Community College in maritime and law areas, and free tuition for all islanders and BOTC, as well as campuses on nearly every island.