Tertiary Institution and their marketing campaign

We are at an interested stage in the history of tertiary education in Jamaica. A decade or so ago we basically had only one University in Jamaica. The University of the West Indies(UWI) was the synomymus with the word University. If you where going to University it was UWI, if you where going to listen to the Univeristy Singers with was the University of the West Indies Singers, if you were going to the University Campus it was the University of West Indies' campus.

Today things have changed and we now have at least six locally/regionally based Universities and a host off-shore ones. The local ones include
  • University of the West Indies (UWI)
  • University of Technology Jamaica (Utech formerly College of Arts Science and Technology(CAST))
  • Northern Caribbean University(NCU formerly West Indies College(WIC)
  • University College of the Caribbean(UCC)
  • International College of the Caribbean (ICC)
  • Mico University College(Former Mico Teachers College)

The amazing thing is how the University of the West Indies was been caught off gaurd in with the changing times. They are now is scrambling to try and interest third formers to pursue their tertiary education there.

They were used to thinking themselves as top of the league and were use to people fighting to attend their univesity. Now that people have choices many have not bothered with the UWI.

Meeting Employers and Students

While the University of the West Indies was content with their position, the other up and coming universities spent time developing programs geared towards meeting the demands of the employers. UTECH and NCU where particularly adept at this.

NCU for their part started to aggressively develop satelite campuses aimed at reach the students where they were and at times conveinient to them. Today they have crowded campuses in Kingston and Montego Bay in addition to their main campus in Mandeville. Others like the UCC have developed to the point where they have about five campuses islandwide plus the option to study in the early morning.

Another thing that many of the 'newer' univeristies did was to expand their modular programs. This allowed students to pay for courses on a module by module basis.

Universities are now advertising in the every media, radio, print, television. As I write this I have been saturated by advertisements promoting courses at the University of Technology Jamaica.

I do have concerns though. Personally one of things that is worrying me is that many of the students graduating with Bachelors and Masters really have not been educated. The whole excercise has become a paper chase. The universities themselves are not necessarily to be blamed for this. With students having to deal with demanding 9-5 jobs, attending classes 5-9 in the evenings or classes on the week-ends, in addition to responsibilites at home, many are just too tired to really learn or learn as much as they should. Many students simple do just enough to pass. The other side of this is that many of the lecturers or teachers are working 9-5 jobs and then lecturing in the afternoons. As a result, many are under prepared and spend no time doing research and as a result I wonder about the value and credibility of some courses.

Despite all the challenges and concerns it is amazing how in ten years things have changed. The sleeping giant, the Univeristy of the West Indies, has been awoken by the new tertiary educational landscape while the aggressive 'newcomers' are expanding the boundaries.

Related
UWI Slow off the mark

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