HEART/NSTA Trust To Offer New Optoelectronics Programme

The HEART/NSTA Trust will be adding a new course – Optoelectronics Technology – to its list of programmes accessible to Jamaicans.

The course, which is expected to become available early next year, will equip trainees with the necessary skills to become optoelectronic technicians, a new field of study that combines components of electronic and photon technologies.

Optoelectronic technology, which can be found in the running lights on cars and in smart lighting in buildings and homes, involves devices and systems that source, detect and control light, and is considered a subfield of photonics.

Managing Director of the HEART/NSTA Trust, Dr. Janet Dyer, said technology will go a long way in preparing Jamaicans for the changes that are to come, adding that Jamaica will be one of the first countries in the region to offer the course.

“This for us is groundbreaking, because there is no other institution in Jamaica, and I will go as far as to say in the Caribbean, that can boast this new and emerging skill in optoelectronic technology. We have our occupational standards unit and this is going to become the newest skill to be rolled out in HEART/NSTA Trust and we are going to be training persons to become optoelectronic technicians,” she said.

“So, down the road when somebody has that vehicle or that piece of solar equipment to be fixed, we won’t have to send abroad for anyone… because we will be preparing persons in Jamaica to take on those jobs in optoelectronic technology,” Dr. Dyer said.

The Managing Director was speaking at the joint launch ceremony for the World Skills Competition in Shanghai for 2021, and the Optoelectronic Technology awards today (July 30), in Kingston.

Persons were awarded with certificates after completing the training programme administered virtually between April 27 and June 18 of this year, in partnership with World Skills, an organisation centred on skills development in youth worldwide, as well as the VCOM College in China.

Dr. Dyer said despite the many ill effects of COVID-19, it has helped the HEART/NSTA Trust to realise the potential of virtual courses.

“Perseverance is all we need to ensure that we get to that mark. We had persons coming out at different phases and some very bright sparks. This is a course that was offered not just to us in Jamaica but to everyone interested across the world. Some of our persons who completed the course were in the top-10 percentile of graduates. The grades earned were in the top-10 per cent for all persons who did the course across the world,” she explained.

The training agency aims to offer this course both face-to-face and online.

Meanwhile, the HEART/NSTA Trust has launched the World Skills Jamaica campaign to attend the World Skills Competition in Shanghai. China.

World Skills Shanghai 2021 will be held from September 22 to 27. More than 1,300 competitors from more than 60 World Skills member countries and regions will compete in 56 skills.