USF Awards $3M in Grants to 12 ICT Students

The Universal Service Fund (USF) has awarded grants totalling $3 million to 12 Jamaican students pursuing tertiary studies and professional development in information and communications technology (ICT) and related digital fields.

The 2026 beneficiaries of the USF ICT Education Grant Programme signed their contracts during a ceremony held at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) Resource Centre in Kingston on Tuesday (September 15).

The initiative is designed to expand access to educational opportunities while developing the skills needed to support Jamaica’s digital transformation.

Through the programme, students will receive up to $300,000 per year for their course of study.

Recipients are required to maintain a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher in order to remain eligible for funding.

USF Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Charlton McFarlane, who noted that 130 applications were received this year, urged the students to remain focused, complete their courses of study, and make the best use of the investment being made in their education.

He indicated that since the programme’s inception in 2022, a total of 32 scholarships and grants, valued approximately $20 million, have been disbursed to support students pursuing higher education.

“[This year] we did it slightly different from last year, [when] we only considered students who were essentially at the beginning of their educational and professional pursuits. This year, we [decided] to be a bit more creative and had a separate window to consider older students… who may have started and were not able to finish, and have now restarted or resumed their studies,” the CEO told JIS News.

“Because we do understand that along your academic journey, things may happen… we wanted to provide an avenue for persons who may find themselves in that category to also benefit from this educational grant,” Mr. McFarlane added.

Grant recipient, Djanae Jonas, who is pursuing Computer Science at the University of the West Indies (UWI), with aspirations of becoming a cybersecurity specialist, expressed appreciation for the financial support.

“It will give me the opportunity to study and to contribute meaningfully to Jamaica’s cybersecurity space. I would not have been able to pursue my education in this way if not for [the USF]. So, I am very grateful to them for considering me and for bringing me to this point in the programme,” said the first-year student.

Second-year University of Technology (UTech) student, Azarni Livingston, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Computer Networking and Security, also thanked the USF for the support, noting that it will assist in advancing his tertiary education.

The Universal Service Fund (USF), an agency under the Ministry of Energy, Transport and Telecommunications, is mandated to expand access to information and communications technology (ICT) tools to facilitate social and economic development.