KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — The HEART Trust/ NTA, has partnered with the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, to develop a geospatial technology centred training programme, which will become available to the public in January 2019.

This was disclosed by Director of the Learning Resources Development Department at the HEART Trust/NTA, Dr Henry Gray at a JIS Think Tank held last Friday.

“We have partnered with the ministry to develop the Geomatics and Geospatial Level Two Programme. This programme [will develop] key competencies to operate geographic information system (GIS) applications; develop spreadsheets from geospatial data; and also produce computer-aided drawings,” Dr Gray said.

The programme will also develop key competencies to provide support with geospatial field activities; collect, verify and store geospatial data; and interpret, collate and maintain such data.

The Geomatics and Geospatial Level 2 Programme will last six to nine months or 1,095 hours and will be offered at five HEART/Trust Institutions across the island.

They are the HEART College of Innovation and Technology in Montego Bay, St James; HEART College of Construction Services in Portmore, St Catherine; the South West Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Institutes in Newport, Manchester and Junction, St Elizabeth; and Ebony Park HEART Academy in Toll Gate, Clarendon.

Gray noted that the trainees will be able to contribute to the logistics and transportation development of the country.

“They will also support traffic management, agriculture, security and information and communication technologies (ICT), making Jamaica the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business,” he detailed.

Individuals with the National Vocational Qualification of Jamaica (NVQ-J) certificate at Level One, or two Caribbean Secondary Education Certificates (CSEC) subjects or two General Certificates of Education (GCE) subjects, can access this Level Two programme.

However, basic education in Information Technology and Geography are required.

The Geomatics and Geospatial programme comes with a Level Two NVQ-J certificate which is a technicians’ certificate. Graduates can then go on to pursue the Level Three programme which builds supervisory competencies.

“At this time we are partnering with the Caribbean Maritime University and we intend to extend our partnership to include the Northern Caribbean University and the University of the West Indies and we are optimistic that the managers’ programme will be developed soon after that,” Gray informed.