SUNDAY 6TH JULY, 2014 – UWI TODAY
15
OUR CAMPUS
How to fund it.
How to lift its standards. How to keep
research going. These were the major issues at the
second Caribbean Conference on Higher Education
(CCHE) held in Jamaica recently.
Following the first one four years ago in Suriname,
it attracted more than 100 participants from English,
Dutch, French and Spanish-speaking territories,
including Anguilla, Barbados, Belize, Canada,
Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica,
Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Spain,
St. Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela and the
USA.
UWI Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nigel Harris,
drew the parallel between the University’s regional
reach and the geographic spread of conference
participants. It emphasized, he said, the need to “leap
across barriers of language and culture” to embrace a
common history and allow for effective collaboration.
The challenges in the Caribbean are also evident in the
rest of the world, with larger numbers of young people
unable to find jobs. “The educated unemployed,” he
said, “are often the foot soldiers of unrest.”
Dr Franklin Johnston, Senior Adviser in Jamaica’s
Ministry of Education, applauded the conference
for its timeliness, with special regard to one of the
conference’s main themes: financing. Access to
higher education by a disadvantaged population is
a key factor in moving out of indebtedness. He also
noted that duplication existed among the campuses
so that rationalization with intellectual integrity is an
imperative. In tandem with that is the research and
development necessary to transform entrepreneurial
ventures into collateral jobs.
UNESCO/IESALC and the UNESCO Caribbean
Cluster Office had partnered with the Latin American-
Caribbean Centre ofThe UWI to stage the conference.
Dr Pedro Henríquez, Director of UNESCO-IESALC
in Caracas spoke about the unprecedented growth in
higher education worldwide with global enrolments
increasing five-fold. He expressed concern about the
lack of fulfilment of agreements signed in Paramaribo
during the First Caribbean Conference on Higher
Education (CCHE1) by institutions andmember states
and recommended regular policy debates to follow up
Congrats to
Teleois software partners!
The Teleios Code Jam,
conceived in the Faculty of Engineering, UWI, several years ago by
Cordell Lawrence and KimMallalieu, first delivered through our Caribbean Internet Forum,
and supported each year by Teleios Systems, has won the Microsoft Global YouthSpark
Citizenship Partner of the Year Award.
The winner of the YouthSpark Citizenship Partner of the Year Award is Teleios Systems
fromTrinidad andTobago. They were recognized by their determination to changeTrinidad
and Tobago national culture around software development. The Teleios “Code Jam” has
exposed university students to real-world, team-based, collaborative software development
and sparked excitement around building solutions and innovation. It has also brought
together students, academia, and the industry in a creative way to create real-world
solutions.
(KimMallalieu, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering)
(Left to right) Akash Pooransingh, UWI Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering; Ronald Hinds, CEO, Teleios Systems; Kevin Khelawan, COO Teleios Systems,
and Dr. Kim Mallalieu, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, at the
prizegiving ceremony for the March 2010 Teleios Code Jam.
on such agreements. Dr Henríquez urged Caribbean
nations to agree on standards for quality assurance and
recognition. IESALC, he said, is currently preparing a
consultation at governmental level for a Latin America
andCaribbean regional position on the 1974UNESCO
Agreement on Recognition of Studies, Titles and
Diplomas.
Francisco Marmolejo, Lead Tertiary Education
Specialist at the World Bank, engaged his audience
on the issues and trends in tertiary education and
implications for the Caribbean, setting the tone for
conference discussions. Student protests in Chile and
Greece about financing and lack of opportunities
might have seemed far from Kingston, Jamaica but in
this increasingly interdependent world, there are often
implications at home.
“Knowledge,” he pointed out, “makes the difference
between poverty and wealth.” Yet, in the list of post
millennium development goals, higher education is
not mentioned at all. Marmalejo identified the World
Bank’s top 10 Do’s in tertiary education, including
levelling the playing field, diversifying options,
assurance of quality institutions, equitable and
affordable education and training, programmes that
yield high social returns and fostering openness and
an evidence-based culture in tertiary education.
Organizers are currently deliberating on an
action plan to emanate from conference discussions
and recommendations in the three sub-theme areas.
This would include a glossary to assist in arriving at
consensus on a common language that can facilitate
the mutual recognition of diplomas and titles and
a harmonised regional system of higher education.
Emphasis was also laid on the importance of research
and development as a tool for development and
building capacity to manage the research enterprise
and transfer results for purposes of development.
Underpinning these activities is the urgent need for
the higher education sector to develop comprehensive,
realistic strategies for revenue generation and resource
mobilisation and the appointment of the appropriate
teams to engage in such activities. The plan will
substantiate the II CCHE Kingston Declaration on
Higher Education.
Francisco Marmolejo, Lead Tertiary Education Specialist at the
World Bank, engaged his audience on the issues and trends in
tertiary education and implications for the Caribbean: “Knowledge
makes the difference between poverty and wealth.”
101 Ideas on
Higher
Education
“Knowledge, makes the difference
between poverty and wealth.”
Yet, in the list of post millennium
development goals, higher
education is not mentioned at all.”
