Blueprint for higher education delivery emerges from summit

A declaration document that is expected to shape the development of the higher education sub-sector in Jamaica has emerged from a just-concluded two-day summit in Kingston.

Education Minister Ruel Reid, who was given the document on Friday by chairman of the Higher Education Summit Committee, Dr Dameon Black, said it will be integral in transforming the way tertiary education is delivered in Jamaica.

“This is very historic because it is setting the platform for how Jamaica is going to position itself to develop its human resources at a very high level. So, we can have the critical mass of workers, who are trained and aligned to the areas of national priority, the areas where the economy is going, the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) areas [and] the industrial areas,” Reid explained.

Reid said the document, which came out of the suggestions by the various stakeholders, will help chart a course for students to have better access to education at universities.

The education minister said the summit was staged to address issues relating to the management and regulation of the higher education sector.

“We’ve been talking about quality assurance. We’ve been talking about registration, regulation, access, financing of the tertiary sector [and] how, as a ministry, we are organised so that we can have all these things done,” he explained.

“It was important to have full consultation among the stakeholders, get wide participation of these varying interest groups, and so we come to one consensus, which is what this declaration is about; how we move the education sector forward through tertiary education,” Reid said.