April 2015


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Message from the Principal: Building Bridges to the World of Work Through Student Internships

On March 5th, 2015, I was pleased to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between The University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus and the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) of Trinidad and Tobago to officially launch the IBF Internship Programme. Though this is not the first such programme, nor will it be the last, it comes as a timely reminder of the important role the private sector can play in facilitating the development of our students for the world of work upon graduation from the Institute.

Through such mentored and structured internships, students develop the knowledge and understanding of the business environment they wish to enter upon graduation. They develop interpersonal and communication skills and, importantly, they become much more confident young men and women. These internship programmes can bring considerable benefits to employers as they cultivate an early relationship with our students while at the same time, moulding, observing and evaluating their potential in the workplace as possible future permanent employees. Employers can get the best and most talented of our students early in their university life. The young people at the university demonstrate considerable creativity which can be applied in the workplace, bringing fresh eyes and ears to problem-solving, and an eagerness to be agents of change; even though still young and inexperienced, their thoughts can lead to improvements in the workplace. The benefits are reciprocal: the opportunity provided for students to become aware of the challenges that are faced in the working world can shape project work in the classroom. This feedback loop will certainly add to the expediency of problem solving. Many industries and businesses have little or no R & D support, but through our students/interns, our university is in a better position to address the on-going, current needs of the business, manufacturing, industrial and public sectors.

We never allow our doctors to practice medicine without an internship period. This is an example of best-practice all professions should adopt, with our support at The UWI. I have often said to my academic colleagues, that while the time our students spend in the classroom is beneficial, of more impact on their personal lives and readiness for the world of work, is their involvement in industry/enterprises.

I can reflect on my own engineering internship periods at the Demerara Bauxite Company Limited (DEMBA), where many of my Trinidad and Tobago classmates from St Augustine also accompanied me for such internships. I have heard positive stories of internships at TEXACO/PETROTRIN or at T&TEC. Engineering companies had these in the past, but I am not sure how much of this is still done. This partnership between UWI and the IBF is therefore pivotal in providing quality and relevant training to develop the human resource of our country. In this particular situation, the collaboration offers employment opportunities to our undergraduate students enrolled in the Departments of Management Studies and Economics in the Faculty of Social Sciences. A real “ground breaker” here!

I have often reflected on how the responsibility for education of our students at the university should be shared. Certainly a partnership of parents and students themselves, where they can afford it, our Regional Governments, the university and the private sector is the way forward. All stakeholders benefit from such education. The private sector must be at this table and let me thank sincerely those companies in Trinidad and Tobago who do this on a regular basis; more can make a great contribution through internship training programmes for our students. The costs are small compared to the benefits to be derived, for both firm and student.

Finally a word to our students and their parents - I recalled several years ago, an internship programme was designed for students of The UWI to spend a full year in the oil company PETROTRIN prior to graduation. There were few takers, as everyone is in a hurry to get their degrees, to graduate. This is understandable, but the opportunity to get world-of-work experience in industry prior to graduation, can set those who had such training apart from graduates without, as they would already have had a head-start in the world of work. So to my students, I say, use the opportunity presented to get such experience and as the saying goes, “make haste slowly!” You can emerge a big winner!

EDITORIAL TEAM

Campus Principal: Professor Clement Sankat
Director of Marketing and Communications: Dr. Dawn-Marie De Four-Gill
Editor: Mr. Joel Henry [Joel.Henry@sta.uwi.edu]

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