KINGSTON, Jamaica – The HEART/NSTA Trust says it continues to collaborate with critical players to ensure that the programmes and services offered by the entity are up to international standards and are aligned with employers’ current and emerging needs.

This was disclosed by managing director, HEART/NSTA Trust, Dr Taneisha Ingleton, during Wednesday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House in St Andrew.

“We do work with industry to create all our programmes. As a matter of fact, if industry does not sign off on a programme, it cannot be offered, and so we have been working with World Skills International for the standards. We also collect data from the World Economic Forum to ensure that we have all the global standards incorporated in our training,” she pointed out.

Dr Ingleton said the courses offered by the Trust focus on both the theoretical and practical aspects to enhance the experience of the students.

“The Trust is about skills training, so, essentially, it’s experiential learning, so while there are the pieces for the theory, we do focus a lot on the experience. So, we are looking at essentially a 70-20-10 model where 70 per cent is on the actual experience, the on-the-job training; 20 per cent would be the core theory of the course; and then 10 per cent would be that collaboration between you and your teammates, industry partners, and that experience you would get communicating with individuals within and outside the course,” she outlined.

HEART was created to build and sustain a globally competitive Jamaican labour force that is responsive to the demands and complexities of the modern workplace.

The objective is to create a local workforce, trained and certified at international standards, that can improve Jamaica’s national productivity and competitiveness.

The suite of programmes is carefully crafted to address the training needs of a wide spectrum of young, prospective Jamaican employees and entrepreneurs, as well as persons already in the workforce.

– JIS