UTECH still wants Trelawny

[Willi]

All the other stuff like Business and Sosci can be done at UWI. Ideally U tech should be our equivalent of the St. Augustine Engineeering Faculty, just like how TnT set up their own Medical school.

There are fluff programs at Utech ( by that I mean bad copies of what is availabe at Mona)....check it out for yourself.

[Don1]

Maybe there is a slight bias, but not because I am a past student, I am more familiar with the institution and its capabilities. If you are familiar with many of the well run programs at CAST/UTech, you will have an idea why I am for the integration. I also think there are economies of scale to be realized from merging of the two institutions. This would be particularly beneficial to a country which is struggling economically.

I also think that many of the people who go to GC Foster, if they were a part of UTech, they could have access to other areas of study which are not available to them right now. Maybe a GC Foster student could want to take on business management studies which they could combine with their sports studies. This would be facilitated by the merger.

Also, of you look at most well run universities (take UWI), they have their Faculties, of medicine, natural sciences, engineering, law, social sciences etc, etc.) . UTech have their school of business, architecture, hotel management, school of business, engineering, Technical Education (teacher training) among others. These institutions offer the much more options for their students. Making GC Foster a college of UTech would be much better for the school and the students involved.


My original reasoning applies to this question. I think as a school of sports alone, GC Foster College is limited in its offering to students. Not every student who go to a school will want to only study sports studies. Students may want to take on other studies the school is not accredited in offering at this time. Why should a school limit its students?

well said

[Don1]

Th reason why I agree with Willi is because of the changing of the times. JA need a technology school focusing on engineering ad its applications. In germany engineering students have to do almost two years practical work at some corp before sitting in classrooms with theory. In the US it's the other way around in your final year you coopt or do hands on in some summer programme with a corporation.

Ja needs to adopt the above approach but the local corps. must fund research. I was crying how a particular corp. didn't fund research at UWI only to see them a year later fighting in court with a small business for a software. They could have easily got a superior software from research with less cost and headache.

The tourist industry feels that they have no need to fund technology research but as time goes by and profit margins get thin; they will also see the need for technology (computer and its science in particular).

Willi is right JA a needs a school that is serious about science and technolgy (especially geared towards the info age).

Jamaica has many needs.... little money.

A stand alone tech only school, while desirable, is not currently affordable.

[Tilla]

Jamaica has many needs.... little money.

A stand alone tech only school, while desirable, is not currently affordable.

Some people have high expectations Don1. They are more likely to be the ones who "put their hats where they cannot reach it".
We have to temper our expectations with a dose of economic reality facing the country right now. You cannot buy champagne with white rum money. . .

[Tilla]

Utech does too many fluff programs though.

I wish they would focus on hard core engineering like Caltech, IIT, Imperial College and MIT.

Do you realize that all these schools you have listed, one can study business management, social sciences and other areas of study too? I would like you to show me the institution which focuses only on technology and ignore the other areas of study? Imperial College prides itself on its MBA program just as MIT's Sloan School of Management does. Do not think that it is only engineering you can do at MIT or CALTech.

You have to realize that having a technology driven program alone is not a guarantee for success for any university or society. Many of the very technically inclined folks need to have either have management skills or have people with the management skills to help realize the bigger picture. You should realize, it takes other areas of specialization to make the entire industry work.

Anyway Willi, I know I am preaching to the choir, so I will stop here.

[Jawge]

yeah but that's graduate level. The main thrust of these schools is technology. Yuh Know is sloan have a lot to do with Brasil and Chile's turn around? Dig, if yuh tink is lie mi ah tell.

[Jawge]

Oh yeah? Gwaan talk man. Right now guess who ah eat wi food an dem not even speak English? Costa Rica. CR ah give Tech support fi VIOP and othe computer systems. What does it take really to entrench our education system in computer technology. Strong math program, reserach in computer science. Last but not least: Have someone who knows technolgy to sit at the negotiation table.

Right now all we are negitating for his the building of more and more hotels. Can the municipal system of Mobay support so many people? People in the sense that these tourist will be coming all inclusive, they won't pay a cent for the municipalities as they add wear and tear (one money they will pay) More people will move into St. James to seek work and head out after work (better roads) they will pay no tax to the city of Mobay. This is a lose lose situation. and what sort of jobs again? menial jobs. Yes mi have champagne mind but I will look to see Ja people bawling on life and Debt II and III. That is it; we have the thought that some things are out of our scope , hence we aim low just to get by. The result is that we jakans remain mired in poverty and crime, whilst the revenue earned in services is rerouted out of the island. All because we fail to think big. Matter of fact mek mi leff unnuh cause mark my words : LIFE AND DEBT II and III will be MADE.

[Jawge]

Memba mi ah prophet: 90% ah wha mi say on yah come true.

[Tilla]

Jawge, do you think it takes an engineering education to offer tech support for VOIP? Come better than that Jawge!? A company like Vonage goes to a country like Costa Rica with the technology and hire some high school graduates and pay them minimum wage to be tech support technicians. This is not really ground breaking technology here on the part of the Costa Ricans! I do not see technical support for VOIP as and real technological improvement in a country's technology base. It is another sweat shop job where hours are long and pay is meager.

Anyway, I can count on you to take a discussion off on a tangent.

[Tilla]

You can do undergraduate programs at all these schools in other areas too other than technology. If you do not know, check first before you talk.

Yuh Know is sloan have a lot to do with Brasil and Chile's turn around? Dig, if yuh tink is lie mi ah tell.

Another tangent. . . Anyway, you get the point that it is not technology alone that drives development. Thanks for proving my point.

[Jawge]

You don't need an engineering education to support VOIP at what level?
BTW which is a step in the right direction: tech support for VOIP or waiting tables in a hotel (in this new info age. where these guests don't even tp because they paid it all already) remember VOIP is really in it's infant stage, telephony is on it's way out.

So you are telling that these people will come away not learning anything about IP and phone systems? Well what does the waiter, chaamber maid, gardener really kows then?

[Jawge]

So how is it a tangent then? I tell you bwoy. Mi neva know you could get a bachelors in sociology and business Admin. at MIT and CALTECH. Well mi name di eternal learner (Mo please leave mi name alone).

[Tilla]

Ask yourself, are these Costa Ricans developing the technology or are they employing the technology? I can see the need for technical support from people who speak spanish to support VOIP technology. I bet you if the same company needed to have English technical support, they would look to India? Why do you think they would? The supply of cheap labor in India far exceeds what is available in Jamaica, maybe more than a thousand times.

So you are telling that these people will come away not learning anything about IP and phone systems? Well what does the waiter, chaamber maid, gardener really kows then?

Do not tell me that you think it is only chamber maid, waiter and gardener that work in our hotel/tourism industry. I guess your shortsightedness does not allow you to see the many other people with education beyond high school who find work in that industry and they do not do the menial tasks you just listed.

Anyway Jawge, the last time I checked, tourism was one of the major earners of foreign exchange for the country. We have the natural resources for it and now over the years have developed the infrastructure to support the industry. I you are not happy with our people providing the services to support this type of industry?

[Tilla]

You can do history, Music, social scinences, literature, etc at MIT. Here is what the Sloan school says about their undergrad program in management.

Undergraduate Program
The Undergraduate Program in management science provides students with the analytical skills and knowledge necessary to solve managerial problems in today's technologically intensive business world.
Degree received: SB
Average age of students: 20
Average work experience: NA
Number of students: 270
Length of study: 4 years
Application deadline: See MIT Admissions
Top hiring industries after graduation: Financial Services, Commercial Banking, Consulting, Information Technology.


To see the entire program, visit MIT Academic Program

Cal Tech also offer things like Humanities and Social Sciences. See CalTech.

Enjoy Jawge!

[Don1]

You don't need an engineering education to support VOIP at what level?
BTW which is a step in the right direction: tech support for VOIP or waiting tables in a hotel (in this new info age. where these guests don't even tp because they paid it all already) remember VOIP is really in it's infant stage, telephony is on it's way out.

So you are telling that these people will come away not learning anything about IP and phone systems? Well what does the waiter, chaamber maid, gardener really kows then?

Tilla is right. Those offshore tech support jobs are just a little above call center jobs for sales or customer support....like VistaPrint in MoBay.

The employees will learn the basics of how VOIP works but little else technically. They will learn the company's manual & "cook books" to troubleshoot problems and walk customers thru them...nothing else.

These are not high level jobs....not that I turn my nose up at them...we do need jobs at every level and we must learn to creep before we can walk.

However we need to start planning to move up the value chain to higher value added services like software design, testing and development...that is key.

This is where an institution like UTECH can excel given the vision and the right tools ...ie strategic support from the public & private sectors.