BIMAP, SJPI agree to share skills, boost campus green energy

The nation’s leading business school, Barbados Institute of Management and Productivity (BIMAP), has agreed to tap into the expertise of the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology (SJPI) to further develop its green energy profile.

In return, BIMAP has agreed to help SJPI’s students and tutors improve digital learning.

And the country’s main technical school said it is meeting a rising demand for the skills that could lead to green technology jobs, said SJPI principal Ian Drakes.

As the two tertiary colleges signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), Dr Sonia Greenidge-Franklyn, Executive Director of BIMAP, said it was fully committed to expanding its green energy usage, in keeping with the Government’s goal of becoming 100 per cent renewable energy and carbon neutral by 2030.

“BIMAP is cognizant of the fact that we need to change the way we use energy, so BIMAP is very much on board in terms of greening the whole campus,” she said. “We will be shortly launching a project where the campus is going to be going green, but we will tell you about that in a little while.”

Drakes told journalists there was high demand for SJPI’s green technology courses. Although COVID-19 has limited much of the physical classes than can be held, the practical sessions have been able to continue with support from the COVID Monitoring Unit, he said.

The SJPI principal said: “I would say [demand] has increased. Persons [are] also realizing the technologies in Barbados that SJPI are offering in terms of renewable energy, electric vehicles, and also other areas like robotics and coding which we are looking to get into, that we been able during the pandemic, to deliver to our students full time because we have been using a hybrid approach.

“We have been working very closely with the COVID Monitoring Unit, where we were able to do the theory of most programmes online, but we understand technical vocational education is practical, and if we do the face-to-face we also have to do the laboratory work and practical as such.”

But Drakes added that while online classes have been going well for the most part, some students and tutors were found to be lacking some experience with operating in a digital space. This area, he stressed, was being addressed with the help of BIMAP and its tutors.

“What we are learning, is some of them [students] may be what we call digital citizens, but they are not fully digitally literate. We are hoping to work with BIMAP as well, that we can have those kind of collaborations to help our instructors as well as our learners, because in this MOU we have a training aspect.

“We are arming ourselves and knowing this is the new norm, and there is no going back. Technology is here to stay,” he added. (SB)