The Faculty of Engineering

Engineering Institute

Courses

Overview

The pace of technological change and progress in today’s world demands that professionals, particularly in areas such as engineering, keep up with the latest developments in their field. In addition the emphasis of the work undertaken by professional engineers changes as their careers progress.
As a result they require further training or retraining during the course of their careers. Continuing Education has therefore become essential for the modern professional.
It is now well recognized that continuing education benefits employees as well as employers, the professions and nations. Some professional bodies now have mandatory continuing education requirements for professional licence renewal and professional membership. In France for example legislation has been enacted to make employers contribute up to 2% of employees' wages for continuing education.
Most employers provide release time from the job and financing for their engineers to attend continuing education courses. Many large firms provide their own "in house" continuing education courses in some areas. They may depend, however, on other organizations for some of their training needs, as do most smaller companies. University continuing education programmes, professional societies and specialist training organization have traditionally filled this need.

Historical Development

A Continuing Education Committee of the Faculty of Engineering, UWI, was established in 1972 to satisfy the needs of the Commonwealth Caribbean. Since then hundreds of short courses, seminars, workshops and conferences have been organized for several thousand participants. A full time unit  - the Continuing Engineering Education Centre, as part of the Engineering Institute, was established in 1994.
The number of courses, seminars, workshops and conferences offered by the Faculty  increased dramatically from about five to six per year in the  1970's and 1980's to over thirty in the 1990's. Whereas in the 1970s and 1980s most courses were held in Trinidad and Tobago, in subsequent years courses were held in several of the other Caribbean territories including Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Tortola, BVI for local and regional participants. Several courses have also been specifically tailored for, and delivered to specific industries and/or industrial sectors such as the petroleum and water and sewerage companies in Trinidad and Tobago as well as (electrical) power companies in Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean through CARILEC, and the food industry in the Eastern Caribbean and the BVI

"Bringing Industry & the  University Closer Together"