University College still on the cards

Barbadians can look forward to the establishment of a new, Barbados-owned tertiary education institution in the near future.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced on Wednesday that the introduction of the University College of Barbados (UCB) was an item on her administration’s to-do list. When created, the new institution will subsume the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology, the Barbados Community College and the Erdiston Teachers’ Training College.

She made the comments while addressing the renaming ceremony of the island’s premier hospitality institute in Hastings – the Barbados Community College Hospitality Institute (BCCHI).

That institution is now known as the Jean and Norma Holder Hospitality Institute and Hotel PomMarine, in honour of the development work done by the couple in the tourism and education sectors.

Mottley said “it almost hurts my heart” that work for the University College of Barbados has been going on since 2001 and that the framework for the organisational arrangements were completed since 2008 but the work for the facility had not started.

She said her administration took the decision to fix a “beleaguered” economy and to once again guarantee free access to tertiary education for Barbadians before moving on with the creation of a new institution that could potentially have increased cost.

“I would have much rather to have also been able to be announcing for example today, that this institute is part of University College of Barbados. But we are not yet there because we have first to deal with the reality that our children needed access to whatever tuition were available in this country,” said Mottley.

Pointing out that it was the vision of Jean Holder’s late wife Norma, that led the government at the time, to establish a framework for the University College of Barbados. Mottley said had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic the plan for UCB  would be further along.

“I still believe that it is an absolute priority in our development as we go forward and I still believe that it is critical that we ensure that the Barbados Community College, the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology and the Erdiston Teachers’ Training College in the interim, continue to expand their programmes.

“But at some point, the reality of us having a single institution dealing with the provision of applied arts and sciences as opposed to simply the academic areas, which the University of the West Indies is better placed so to do, that at some time this must be a priority for the people and Government of Barbados,” Mottley explained.

The Prime Minister urged officials of the hospitality institute to continue to encourage all their students to learn a second or third language while also pressing for a greater use of technology.

Mottley used the occasion to call on Ministry of Education officials to form new, and deepen partnerships between the hospitality institute and other learning institutions and stakeholders.

“We want to partner with whomsoever we can. Whether it is the Caribbean Hotel [and Tourism] Association, whether it is CTO [Caribbean Tourism Organisation], whether it is other universities, whether it is the entities with whom you are already working – the stakeholders delivering hospitality and tourism services in our community – it is absolutely critical that this institution sees itself moving forward on the basis of partnership and partnership with those irrespective of where they are found globally,” said Mottley.

Addressing the gathering, which included Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw, she also threw out a challenge to that ministry to start planning the expansion of the Hotel PomMarine.

She said: “We must work as circumstances economically and financially allow us to be able to undertake an expansion of this institute beyond the number of rooms that it currently has . . . I feel that the time is right Santia, for you all to start planning the next stage of how we can continue to expand.”

The Marine Gardens, Hastings, Christ Church training facility, which also includes a 20-room hotel, was established in 1997. (MM)