CMI Delivering First-Class Training – Pickersgill

Minister of Housing, Transport, Water and Works, Robert Pickersgill, has said the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI) was making a significant contribution to the international shipping industry, through its consistent delivery of first-class training to regional seafarers.
“The CMI . has extended its reach to the region and the wider international community. For the past two and a half decades, the Institute has been the only one of its kind in the region,” Mr. Pickersgill said, in a speech delivered by Senior Director of Policy, Planning and Evaluation in the Ministry, Elsa-May Binns, at the CMI graduation ceremony held yesterday (Sept. 28) at the Jamaica Conference Centre.
The Minister, in his speech, informed that the Institute “has recently embarked on a thrust to increase its visibility in the island, and to this end, has signed a franchise agreement with the Montego Bay Community College for the delivery of the Associate of Applied Science degree in Industrial Systems Operation and Maintenance”.
He said that “this will be of great assistance to students based in western Jamaica, who are seeking to pursue programmes in maritime studies offered at the Institute”.
The Transport Minister pledged the government’s support in the advancement of the 26-year-old Institute, and informed that a Memorandum of Understanding had been signed with German-based Harren and Partners, to provide for the placement and employment of CMI graduates and cadets on company’s ships.
The arrangements also allows for co-operation in a variety of areas such as professional development and exchange of skill.
Meanwhile, in relating his recent experience with a CMI graduate, who had qualified at the Masters Degree level in Nautical Engineering, and was employed on a major supertanker plying the Pacific Rim, Minister Pickersgill told the graduates that greatness was within their grasp.
The CMI has as its mandate, the provision of training for maritime professionals in the coast guard, shipping and allied industries.
The institution has forged linkages with the World Maritime University in The Hague, University of the West Indies and University of Technology, and its associate degrees and diploma courses are approved by the University Council of Jamaica.
A total of 107 students graduated from the Institute yesterday.