The University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC) is seeking to partner with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information (MOEYI) and corporate Jamaica to introduce specific associate degree programmes at selected high schools in St Andrew and nine other parishes.

The initiative is to be launched on Thursday, January 25, 2018 at the UCC main campus in Kingston.

It will provide high school graduates who have the requisite qualifications to pursue either an accredited UCC associate degree or a proposed MOEYI occupational associate degree in their own school environment. In addition, students can matriculate from these programmes into various bachelor degrees programmes offered either by the UCC or in conjunction with its partner institutions in Jamaica — Florida International University or the University of London (UOL). Interested students will also be able to matriculate into the UOL Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree through the UCC upon completion of their two-year programme.

Under the pilot project, which starts September 2018 in 50 designated private and public high school clusters, UCC will initially offer up to five associate of science degrees in business, information technology, hospitality management, business process outsourcing/business process management (BPO)/BPM), supply chain management as well as STEM/STEAM-related programmes.

Students entering grade 12 will now have an enviable opportunity to begin an early college programme similar to the model in the United States. They will earn an accredited ASc degree, which offers 63 college credits on a full-time basis at the end of 24 months, in lieu of pursuing the traditional Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) subjects. However, if students choose, they will also be able to begin pursuing preliminary courses in July 2018 at their respective high schools, commencing with introductory college credits during the UCC’s two-month summer academy for students who have completed grades 10 and 11.

According to UCC Executive Chancellor Professor Dennis Gayle, the associate degrees will deliver a total undergraduate education experience that prepares students for new and expanding careers in business, information technology, law, STEM/STEAM, among others. He noted that these targeted sectors have long been recognised by the Government as a major training priority for Jamaica in terms of economic, social and human resource development.

Professor Gayle added that the initiative will focus on increasing the technological, and business capabilities of qualified high school graduates, as it has been recognised that the region will become more dependent on the use of modern, technological and business solutions for sustaining life and the pace of these sectors. He disclosed that under a recently signed MOU between UCC and the Government’s Students’ Loan Bureau, students pursuing the UCC’s associate degree programmes will also be eligible for loans during the entire two-year degree.

During a meeting with UCC senior management last October, Minister of Education, Youth & Information Ruel Reid welcomed the initiative, noting that “it was in accordance with Government’s policy position that students leave high school at grade 13 with an associate degree”.

Meanwhile, group executive chairman of the UCC Group, Dr Winston Adams has pointed out that this national initiative and educational revolution is expected to benefit from local commercial and industrial linkages, which will allow students to gain hands-on experience in a variety of ways, as well as the potential for employment following graduation or internship opportunities during the summers. This, he said, will create a workforce pipeline that will be attractive to corporate Jamaica setting up or expanding operations in a given parish.

According to Dr Adams, the university will, therefore, seek to partner and engage with interested corporations/businesses to mentor and provide internships for students seeking certain associate degrees in demand, so that on graduation they are ideal candidates to fill critical positions. These ASc degree graduates will, therefore, enjoy a hiring advantage at these organisations.

Dr Adams said: “It is our belief that higher education now constitutes a primary force driving the sustainability of development, and an undergraduate degree impacts positively on the life experiences of our graduates. It raises wages and productivity as well as enhances the quality of civil society and, in general, graduates earn more than non-graduates, particularly in the medium to long term.”

The University of the Commonwealth Caribbean is Jamaica’s largest, non-affiliated, privately held higher education institution. It was established in 1992 with the acquisition by the Institute of Management Sciences of the Institute of Management and Production, from the ICD Group of Companies.