NEW YORK, USA—A Washington, DC-based non-profit has embarked on a major fund-raising drive to secure funding for development projects at Jamaica’s Northern Caribbean University (NCU) located in Mandeville, Manchester.

A news release from the NCU International Development

Foundation has set a goal of raising US$10 million by August of this year; another US$40 million by the next two years and US$200 million within the following two to three years.

Funds raised by the Adventist-affiliated foundation are to be used to create an endowment as well as to undertake a number of major development projects, the foundation said. The projects include: The Centre of Dental, Hygiene and Community Outreach; The Restoring Every Student’s Confidence Using Education (RESCUE) Programme; the Lecture Theatre for Public Policy; Endowed Chairs/ Professorships (nursing, IT, computer science research), and Institutional Development, among others.

“Since it started operating two years ago, the foundation has contributed in excess of $150,000 in cash and materials to the university. Its vision is to mould the university into a financially sustainable and healthy institution, while part of its mission is to mobilise people and resources to support the advancement of the university,” it said.

NCU was established in 1907 with eight students operating then as the West Indian Training School out of Riversdale in St Catherine, before moving to its current location in 1919 where it became the West Indian Training College and later West Indies College.

NCU was granted university status by the Government in 1999 and currently offers more than 70 degree programmes, including graduate programmes, in the sciences, business and education.

— Harold G Bailey