UWI to offer business course with flying licence

For the first time, the University of the West Indies (UWI) will be offering a business degree with a pilot’s licence included with the diploma.

And local economist Jeremy Stephen, a licensed commercial pilot, has suggested that this can provide economic and human resource benefits locally and beyond.

A Bachelor of Business Administration in Aviation Management with a pilot’s licence is to be offered at the Cave Hill Campus, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology Dr Jeanese Badenock has announced. 

The degree is aimed at strengthening the region’s aviation needs, she said in brief remarks on the Jamaican leg of an inaugural interCaribbean Airways non-stop service between Barbados and Jamaica. 

Dr Badenock said: “This programme will offer students rigorous and analytical pedagogy in the fundamentals of business and general management across core subject areas, while students attend flight school in the USA. This programme is much needed in the Caribbean region and will utilise a hybrid model.”

UWI is partnering with a state-owned enterprise in commercial aviation business development, Barbados Aircraft and Aviation Services Company (BAASEC) and CAE Inc., formerly Canadian Aviation Electronics Ltd, one of the world’s leading providers of airline flight training services and flight simulators. Flight training is to be completed in the United States.

Dr Badenock said interCaribbean Airways will offer scholarships to five candidates for the degree programme. The scholarships are to be named for Manville Gardiner, the eldest brother of InterCaribbean founder and Chairman Lyndon Gardiner, who was an air traffic controller and pilot. A biography on the 30-year-old airline’s website said Gardiner’s big brother was a “major influence” in his life.

“I am delighted to announce that starting this year, the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus in collaboration with interCaribbean Airways, will annually award five Manville Gardiner Memorial Scholarships to undergraduate students from our region. These scholarships aim to support future leaders in the Caribbean aviation industry, honouring the memory of Mr Manville Gardiner, and creating a robust talent pipeline for interCaribbean Airways,” she said.

“The awards will be based on financial need and academic performance and will provide deserving students pursuing select majors in the Faculty of Social Sciences – such as entrepreneurship, hospitality, international relations, and management with a concentration in tourism among others – with an opportunity to pursue higher education and gain valuable experience through internships at interCaribbean Airways.”

Details on the level of pilot licence the degree programme offers were not immediately available. In the US, pilots must first earn a private pilot licence (PPL) – the basic driver’s licence of the sky – and then a commercial pilot licence which is granted after a minimum of 250 hours of flight time, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. To fly for an airline, an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate, the highest level of pilot licence, is awarded after at least 1 500 flight hours.

The announcement of the degree programme comes amid a worldwide shortage of pilots, with projections of high demand for new pilots and replacements for retiring aviators.

Stephen, who is also an aircraft owner, suggested the degree offers “useful” economic and human resource benefits for Barbados and the region.

The economist told Barbados TODAY: “It would be useful in growing that part of our foreign exchange earnings that is linked to higher education. Loads of persons around the region should opt for this due to the fact that it will be the only one on offer and will be a cheaper alternative than studying abroad.”

Describing his journey from initial flight school with the Barbados Light Aeroplane Club’s Flight Training Institute to gaining his pilot’s licence in the southern US, Stephen said the UWI degree could potentially save “tens of thousands” in flight training for would-be aviators.

“It costs a lot more than it should have, especially where you factor in living costs,” he said. “The [US] and Canada are, depending on where you settle, just as expensive if not more than living in Bim. And given the relocation costs while still having bills to pay locally didn’t help much, to be honest.”

While a global pilot shortage is set to continue for the world’s airlines, aviation analysts CAPA-Centre for Aviation have advocated for lowering the financial barriers to pilot training while increasing the diversity of the pilot recruitment pool and utilising new flight training technology.

Between the world’s leading rivals in airframe manufacturing, Boeing in the US and France’s Airbus have projected a shortfall of 1.2 million pilots over the next 20 years. Last year, CAE forecasted 4.1 per cent growth in global pilot numbers up to 2032, with a demand for 25 000 new pilots a year and an active pilot population of 504 000 in the next decade. 

(SB/BT)