The strategic development of capacities in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Workforce Development (WFD) is critical to economic development in the Caribbean/CARICOM region. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education of Trinidad and Tobago, in its Policy on Tertiary Education, Technical Vocational Education and Training, and Lifelong Education in Trinidad and Tobago (n.d.) has pointed to the lack of qualified administrators and instructors in the TVET sector as an issue that needs to be addressed. To remedy the situation, the policy calls for “capacity-building and human resource development with a focus on teaching, research, educational leadership and performance-based management to ensure the efficient and cost-effective functioning of the expanded and transformed tertiary education system” (p. 15).
It is against this backdrop and in accord with the University’s strategic aim of producing higher degree graduates who are at the cutting edge of contemporary scholarship that the School of Education, UWI, St. Augustine, offers this master’s programme. The programme is designed to enhance leadership capacities and to strengthen capabilities to design, develop and manage TVET and workforce-related programmes to respond to changes in the world of work. The School of Education also views the mounting of this programme as a crucial step in helping to facilitate the thrust toward having technical vocational education become more integrated into offerings at the secondary school level.