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Mico College Given More Autonomy
KINGSTON, (JIS)
Monday, July 03, 2006
A resolution for the establishment of a scheme that will enable the Mico Teachers College to assume more autonomous functions and extend its scope of collaboration with degree granting institutions, was unanimously supported, when it was laid before the House of Representatives on June 28.
Education and Youth Minister, Maxine Henry Wilson, who piloted the Mico University College Scheme 2006, explained that the move was a step forward in the process of the college gaining university status.
The scheme, she said, would enable the institution to establish the constitution of a board of directors and empower it as the chief policy-making body of the institution; stipulate the powers and duties of the academic board; enable the college to exercise greater flexibility in granting degrees and diplomas and to determine general curricula offerings in keeping with national needs.
The Mico College, the Education Minister noted, has an existing relationship with the University of the West Indies (UWI), whereby the teacher training college has been able to grant degrees such as the bachelor of education degree in primary education and special education degrees. The University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) accredits the degree programmes that are offered.
"Therefore, the proposal for the establishment of the scheme is consistent with our education transformation proposal, whereby teachers will require a first degree to be registered and licensed," Mrs. Henry Wilson said, outlining that the government's overarching objective was to have 80 per cent of the nation's teaching cohort possessing a baccalaureate or undergraduate degree by 2015.
She said that the enhancement in the status of the Mico College would not incur additional expenditure, noting that some $162 million was granted to the institution each year through the Education Ministry. A significant portion of funding to upgrade the institution will be derived from the coffers of the Mico Trust and the Mico Foundation.
Meanwhile, the Minister indicated that the college was undertaking an upgrading programme with most of their staff members now pursuing doctorates as a requirement for the institution gaining university status.
Offering his endorsement of the resolution, Opposition Spokesman on Education and Youth, Andrew Holness remarked that the college "will now be able to provide content and determine a curriculum, which is important to moving towards that status of being a university."
He proposed that the government examine the creation of tertiary education institutions aimed specifically at exporting trained people to work in foreign countries. "We need to create these tertiary institutions to export trained people, to increase the Diaspora, which in turn increases our remittances, so we may need to look at education as an export industry. We have the capacity here to do it and we should follow the lead of countries like India, the Philippines and Ireland that have looked education as an export industry," he recommended.
Responding to Mr. Holness' suggestion, Minster Henry Wilson said the government was engaged in "managed migration programmes, which we are trying to enter into where people can go, spend two or three years somewhere and come back and retain their status here in a professional environment."
The Education Minister asserted that, "the Caribbean Single Market is what caters to this movement as well, so it is in preparation for all of that, that we have to be making sure that our people are on the cutting edge of accreditation."
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