MONTEGO BAY, St James — University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) President Dr Kevin Brown is urging academics living in the diaspora to support local tertiary institutions by returning to Jamaica, as he has, or by leveraging available technology.

Brown, who chaired the 10th Biennial Diaspora Conference’s programme and content committee, and who also acted as government advisor on diaspora affairs in the UK, recently returned to Jamaica after working abroad for more than 20 years.

“I am now making a call… to my fellow diasporans — diasporans with significant academic and professional background — that the University of Technology and other tertiary institutions here in Jamaica need you. We need your expertise,” he appealed.

“Through technology, you don’t all have to come home; we can engage with you. The opportunities are there for you to continue your academic practice and also to help our students to learn from you and to also be work-ready; not just for Jamaica, but the region and the globe as well,” he added.

Brown was speaking Wednesday during a post-Cabinet media briefing at the Montego Bay Convention Centre which formed part of the 10th Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference. Citing data which indicates that about 80 per cent of tertiary graduates migrate, the UTech president argued that the time has come to reverse brain drain which he said he was a part of 20 years ago.

“We’re also shifting knowledge of how can we engage the human resource of the diaspora and human capital. How can we tap into the best and brightest minds overseas and bring them home, like myself, or they stay where they are, but still engage in a meaningful way? This shift now is about brain gain,” he said.

“What we have now is a commitment, I believe, by the Government to engage Jamaicans who have significant professional experience to either come home or to continue to contribute. And these conferences are a forum for that networking, and those opportunities to be explored,” he added.

Senator Dana Morris Dixon, the minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister who also has responsibility for information, skills and digital transformation, thanked Brown for returning to his homeland to contribute to its educational development.

“UTech is our national university and is one of the premier institutions providing the kind of technology, digital kind of workforce that we need. And so we thank you for your work in the diaspora. Also, thank you for still loving Jamaica as much as you do to leave that fabulous life that you had and to come here and to serve your country,” she told him.