Dear Editor,

I read in the Jamaica Observer the plaintive plea of Dr Lincoln Edwards, president of the Northern Caribbean University (NCU), who highlighted the high level of receivables owed to the institution by students.

For an institution to be owed $577 million causes one to wonder how long can the university continue with its academic delivery. I applaud them for pressing forward, not delisting students, and allowing the doors to remain open.

When I consider the history of the institution it comes to mind that, for a private, Christo-centric, values-based institution like NCU to have weathered so many economic storms then it must be an institution of God’s own planting.

As an alum I can testify that my life and achievements would have been well-nigh impossible if that institution had not taken this piece of raw material and fashioned me into what I am today. Many there be who had no hope, no vision of a better tomorrow, until NCU awoke in them that “higher than the highest human thoughts can reach is God’s ideal for his children”. Many would today be relegated to the scrap heap of life had not that institution awakened the giant in them.

I have travelled all but one of Earth’s continents and on each one I find graduates of NCU making stellar contribution to nation-building. The painting I saw on the dormitory wall at Cedar Hall my first day at college has been high-octane fuel that powered many of us to struggle to success: “If thou couldn’t in vision see thyself the man God meant thou wouldst never more be the man thou art content.”

I herald the call too for the private sector and the Government to come to the rescue of faith-based institutions of higher learning that are impacting the nation. Subventions given to other universities in the nation should also be given to NCU also. If they can do so much with so little, imagine how much more frontiers she would conquer if she had the financial resource. After all, students who go there are taxpayers too. The other universities are not all able to absorb all the seekers of higher education and what a void would have been created if faith-based institutions like NCU did not exist.

NCU has played a pivotal role in the dynamic circles which allows both the young and old to self-actualise and have sweet communications with Christ, the saviour. This is a fantastic institution with a most resplendent aura guiding life for those on the verge of being forgotten by main street.

As it relates to the Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB) I think the requirements for accessing loans are stringent and prohibitive for the average person, and should be revised.

Helping NCU remain open and functional is an investment in national development; it is as a long-term investment. It ultimately improves the economic growth and health of the country as a whole.

I hope this note can start a conversation that will put pressure on the Government and private sector to invest in this and like institutions.

Dr Burnett Robinson

blpprob@aol.com