ST. LUCIA – The socio-economic landscape of Saint Lucia is expected to change significantly with the establishment of the country’s first national university by 2012.
Minister for Education Honourable Arsene James, during the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College’s convocation exercise, announced that the preparatory work for the transformation of the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College into the Sir Arthur Lewis University College is well on stream.
“The following are undertakings being worked on: the philosophical statement that captures the vision, mission and concept of a university college, the SWOT analysis of the College to determine the internal strengths and weaknesses within the institutions, and a strategic planning and human resource planning and management committee to deliberate on the formulation of the strategic plan and human resource plan.
“Other critical areas are a new act to govern the university college, new governance conversational and administrative structures, academic degree programmes, accreditation and recognition, new policies and procedures, appropriate and competent teaching faculty and of course financial and other resources.”
The move to establish the Sir Arthur Lewis University College is in keeping with the vision and legacy of the 1979 Nobel Laureate for Economics, Sir Arthur Lewis, who said: “…the way out of poverty is not money but education.”
Minister James says the transformation of the college to a full fledged university will assist in increasing the number of skilled and qualified Saint Lucians. In order to ensure the provision of adequate manpower for the continued development of Saint Lucia, the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College must continue to upgrade its technical and academic programmes.
Mr. James says the hope is to have the university open for the 2011/2012 academic year offering bachelor degree programmes in the first instance.
The preparatory work for the establishment of the Sir Arthur Lewis University College is being lead by Mr Ezra Jn. Baptiste.
