36 Tertiary Level Students Honoured for Outstanding Achievement

Thirty-six students from tertiary and other institutions of higher learning across the island were yesterday (Feb. 8) presented with special awards, having demonstrated excellence in academic pursuits, community service, creativity, extra curricular activities and/or sports and leadership.
The University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) and the Joint Committee for Tertiary Education (JCTE) organized the awards ceremony, which was held at the Knutsford Court Hotel.
In her remarks, Executive Director of UCJ, Dr. Ethley London, noted that “our institutions have to be commended for the excellent job they have done and continue to do in nurturing and producing such students,” whose demonstration of excellence “have given us much pride and great confidence in the future of our country.”
Dr. Eugenie Brown-Myrie, in her response on behalf of the outstanding students, pledged their commitment to the country’s development.
“We are committed to nation building and effecting measurable changes in the lives of those we will serve in our respective career paths,” she said, adding that their success was due to “hard work, dedication, staying the course and being determined to achieve our goals”.
Meanwhile, Professor Marlene Hamilton, Pro Vice Chancellor and Chair of the Board for Undergraduate Studies at the University of the West Indies (UWI), who was honoured as ‘Outstanding Educator’, was described as a “dynamic teacher, a seasoned and competent researcher and a superb administrator.”
Dr. Hamilton’s enviable career in education spans more than 40 years, first as a teacher at Kingston College and Wolmer’s Boys School, then at the UWI where she has spent the past 34 years as lecturer, senior lecturer, professor and pro vice chancellor.
In the meantime, the UCJ presented 18 institutions with certificates of accreditation and another three with certificates of registration for programmes stemming from diplomas to master degrees in a variety of fields including: education, sciences, business, theology, hospitality and tourism management and information technology.
The Executive Director at UCJ noted that the various programmes accredited was “a test to the diversity of training and education occurring at the tertiary level.this is indeed a good indicator of development and speaks volume for the quality of the work force in this country”.
“This move is all a part of the quality thrust in tertiary education globally,” Dr. London stated, adding that “by paying more attention to the quality of the learning experience of our students and having their qualifications quality assured by a credible body, we are making our students globally competitive”.
The awards ceremony was held as part of the UCJ’s 20th anniversary celebrations. The institution was established in 1987 as a quality assurance body for tertiary education and since then, has registered 41 tertiary institutions both public and private, which have met the stated criteria of educational quality.
The UCJ currently monitors 128 programmes, which it has accredited in 31 institutions, including 17 offered by eight overseas institutions.