Caribbean News
JAMAICA: Educational Institutions Urged to Employ Blue Ocean Strategy
#Kingston, January 11, 2019 – Jamaica – President of the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU), Professor Fritz Pinnock, is encouraging heads of educational institutions to employ the Blue Ocean Strategy as a transformational tool.
“We can use the blue ocean shift as a real tool. What we need is not principals who were first-class teachers; we need chief executive officers (CEOs) to run our schools,” he said.
Professor Pinnock was speaking at a leadership development webinar focusing on the Blue Ocean Strategy, at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Regional Headquarters on Monday (January 7).
The Blue Ocean Strategy is a management and leadership paradigm that is based on the idea that every enterprise can achieve higher profit by creating new demand in non-competitive markets. The idea is that instead of struggling to survive in the shark-infested “Red Oceans” of vicious competition, entities should move to the “Blue Oceans” where there is little or no competition.
Professor Pinnock noted that this strategy has been practised at the CMU over the last 12 years, through the utilisation of transformational teaching and learning to meet industry needs.
“We go from industry to classroom as opposed to classroom to industry. As a result, we enjoy the highest placement of graduates in jobs within six months after completion, of which 89 per cent find their way into productive employment,” he said.
Professor Pinnock said utilisation of the Blue Economy Strategy has also resulted in student enrolment moving from 289 to 6,000, the staff complement growing from 38 to over 900, and revenue increasing by 6,479 per cent in 10 years.
In addition, the CMU moved from offering 14 programmes to now boasting more than 400 programmes.
During the event, Professor Pinnock also participated in a panel discussion involving individuals who would have used the Blue Ocean Strategy in their own spaces. The other panelists were Principal of the UWI, Professor Dale 
Webber; President of the Northern Caribbean University (NCU), Dr. Lincoln Edwards; Executive Dean, Caribbean School of Medical Sciences, Jamaica, Dr. Neville Graham; Labour Market Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Fernando Yitzack Pavon; and Chief Executive Officer of the Wisynco Group Limited, William Mahfood.
The webinar, held under the theme, ‘Achieving Sustained Organisational Success: the Blue Ocean Perspective’, was streamed live on platforms such as YouTube and Facebook, and targeted the more than 1,000 principals and 26,000 teachers within the education system.
It was hosted by the National College for Educational Leadership (NCEL), in partnership with the CMU.
Release: JIS
Contact: Alicia Smith
Photo Caption: President of the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU), Professor Fritz Pinnock; addresses a leadership development webinar at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Regional Headquarters on Monday (January 7).
Photographer: Adrian Walker
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
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