MONTEGO BAY, St James — THE Montego Bay-based HEART College of Innovation and Technology (HCIT), formerly the Caribbean Institute of Technology (CIT), is among the educational institutions Government plans to upgrade to technical university status over the next 10 years, according to Minister of Education Andrew Holness.

“This is part of a broader strategy to taking the HEART institutes and turning them into colleges that will eventually become stand-alone institutions, that will eventually parallel the academic institutes that we have… so what we will eventually have in about 10 years would be technical universities,” he explained.

The education minister, who was speaking recently at the HCIT launch held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, revealed Government’s push towards investing heavily in the creation of technical institutes is similar to those established in countries, such as Germany, Austria, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Austria.

The rebranded CIT, located along Pimento Way Cazourmar Freezone, Freeport, Montego Bay, is in keeping with HEART Trust/NTA’s mandate to focus on the provision of higher-level training through the establishment of workforce colleges and Technical Vocational Education and Training institutions.

“That will allow people who are interested in different areas, not only to go along with their technical paths but at the same time they will be able to have the academic underpinning,” Dr Carolyn Hayle, executive director of HEART Trust/NTA, remarked.

The HEART College of Innovation and Technology, will now offer three signature elements:

* the Productive Enterprise, which will facilitate industry-based training by providing participants with hands-on experience in a live business environment;

* the Internship Programme, which will provide experiential learning; and

* the Incubator Programme, which provides an opportunity for entrepreneurs to establish and grow their business.

In the meantime, keynote speaker Patrick Casserly announced that a partnership has been forged between HCIT and the recently opened Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, Caribbean and HCIT.

“We can achieve by supporting HEART, by supporting HCIT. We are going to partner with them to make them successful and we are going to push the system,” pledged Casserly, the chairman of Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, Caribbean.

The Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, Caribbean, which recently opened at the ATL Bogue City Centre in Montego Bay, is expected to provide aspiring entrepreneurs with a launch pad for their businesses and a platform for job creation across the Caribbean.

Operated by Virgin United, the non-profit arm of Virgin group, the Branson Centre will focus on assisting entrepreneurs to develop into business leaders by offering a network of support, mentoring, coaching and skills training.

Casserly who was also recently appointed Ambassador/Special Envoy with responsibility for ICT in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, expressed that the HCIT programme is very important to the future of the nation’s ICT sector, which he noted presently employs 11,500 persons.