THE University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) is urging prospective students of tertiary institutions to register only with institutions that have been accredited by the UCJ.

Executive director of the UCJ, Dr Ethley London, says that while institutions are free to aggressively market their programmes on offer, students need to educate themselves on the programmes before signing up and paying their fees.

“If we have discerning consumers, they will look for those (institutions) that are marketing based on the quality of offerings, comparability of standards and global competitiveness…,” London said. “The first question students must ask is if the programmes are accredited by the national body.”

She was addressing a press conference to announce activities to mark the UCJ’s 20th anniversary at the Council’s offices in Kingston.

The UCJ is a statutory body established in 1987, which aims to establish and maintain a quality assurance system for tertiary programmes and institutions in the island.

The Council also functions as an accreditation and awards body for degrees and other programmes implemented by associated tertiary institutions.

London disclosed that with the tertiary education being the fastest growing segment of the education system, the UCJ needed to increase in size to cope with the workload.

“We see where we will have to get much larger, simply because the work is increasing so much,” the executive director said.

At the same time, London noted that the laws governing the UCJ needed to be strengthened to prevent the institutions from granting diplomas and degrees without its accreditation. She said discussions were under way with a view to effecting this.

President of the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) Dr Herbert Thompson, for his part, said the UCJ has ensured that students have received value for money for the courses of study they had pursued.

He added that the UCJ has facilitated choice and competition in the tertiary education, which has enabled greater quality in the sector.

Ella Gooden, director of Nova Southeastern University, commended the staff of the UCJ for their thorough and cooperative approach to assessing the institution’s programmes.

Some 42 institutions and training units have been registered by the UCJ, of which 31 are accredited, offering 128 certificate, diploma, associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programmes.