Students told learning never stops

Future employees entering the modern workplace must be ready to adapt to changing tides of technology and other requirements that will be expected of them in the ever-changing job market.

This was the messaged delivered by outgoing Principal of the University of the West Indies Open Campus, Pro Vice-Chancellor Dr. Luz Longsworth, at the closing ceremony of the Preparing Today for Tomorrow’s Challenges Programme, held recently at the Barbados Defence Force Officers’ Mess, The Garrison.

The programme which was started in 2015 by the institution, seeks to train secondary school students in the necessary social skills needed to function in the working environment and at the tertiary level, as well as assisting them in their job search efforts.

During her featured address, Dr. Longsworth told the graduating students that COVID-19 has indirectly brought forth the need for new prospective employees to be well trained in the new skillsets required to operate in the modern workplace, both home and abroad.

“We know that what COVID-19 has taught us and the entire world, is that we have to be innovative and we have to change in order to make the most of anything that our life, and our new world throws at us.

“This programme therefore is not just about how to dress, it’s not just about how to speak in an interview, it’s not just about how to put your resume together, the programme is about a lot more than that.

The programme should teach you that tomorrow’s challenges can never be anticipated. We do not know what tomorrow will bring, but what we do know is that we have to prepare for tomorrow,” she stressed.

Due to the COVID-19 restrictions being implemented during the earlier months of 2020, this year’s cohort operated fully in a virtual format, with a total of 42 students from the Coleridge and Parry School, The Ellerslie School, Princess Margaret Secondary School and the St. Michael School collectively participating in the recent instalment.

Dr. Longsworth challenged the participants to continue on their journey of learning and expanding their knowledge, as there will always be something new and exciting in their fields of work of which they can make use.

“You have to recognise that learning is not finite – learning never ends, even when you have finished high school, even when you have finished college, even when you finish your doctorate, learning never ends. The only way to be truly ready for tomorrow’s challenges, is to continue learning new things every single day.

“Continue to look for new challenges every single day, because when the world turns and you are thrown a curve ball, it is those skills that would have prepared you to cope with them, as you have done during COVID-19,” she added. (SB)