Graduates challenged to use their talents to develop region
Thousands of excited
family members
and well wishers
converged on the Mona
Campus for the annual
graduation ceremonies.
Some 3,434 persons were
awarded degrees, 952 at the
graduate level, and 2,481 at
the undergraduate level.
Graduates from the Faculties of
Humanities and Education and Pure & Applied Sciences were presented on
Friday, November 4, those from the
Faculties of Medical Sciences, Engineering
and Law on Saturday, November 5 at
10. 00 a.m. and the remaining students
were presented to the Chancellor at the
graduation ceremony for the Faculty of
Social Sciences, held Saturday, November
5 at 5.30 p.m.
FIRST COHORTS
Among the graduates was the first cohort of 83 persons who
had pursued degree programmes in eleven disciplines at the
UWI Mona Campus Western Jamaica Campus in Montego
Bay. The group included 58 undergraduates and 25 persons at
the graduate level.
Nine students from the first cohort of the MSc Politics and
International Cooperation programme were awarded the
degree. The UWI Mona has a cooperation agreement with
two French universities, the University of Bordeaux IV and
the University Antilles-Guyane, under which Mona offers a
jointly taught B.Sc. /M.Sc. degree in Politics and International
Cooperation. The final year of this programme is delivered
at Mona.
Another pioneering group included the 16 persons who had
pursued the Master of Science degree in Forensic Science. The
Master of Science in Forensic Science is an interdisciplinary
programme that provides students with theoretical and
practical background to prepare them for effective careers
in Forensic Science. The MSc programme is designed to have
emphases (disciplines) in forensic molecular biology, forensic
chemistry, forensic pathology and forensic toxicology. The
programme of study was designed using the guidelines of
the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs,
National Institute of Justice Special Report (2004) on
Education and Training in Forensic Science.
HONORARY DEGREES
Honorary degrees were also presented to five icons of the
society: on Friday afternoon, the honorary degree of Doctor of
Laws was conferred on world record holder Usain Bolt, while
novelist and Community activist Erna Brodber received the
honorary degree of Doctor of Letters. On Saturday morning,
medical doctor and founder and National Director of the
Advanced Trauma Management (ATOM) course, Dr. Lenworth
Jacobs received the honorary degree of Doctor of Science and career banker, Minna Israel, received the honorary degree of
Doctor of Laws. The honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was
also conferred on General Manager of the Jamaica National
Building Society, Earl Jarrett at the ceremony on Saturday
afternoon.
ON BEING A GOOD STEWARD
UWI Chancellor, Sir George Alleyne, in his address,
commented on the good stewardship which the Mona
Campus had displayed in relation to regional governments,
the careful management of the natural resources and its
“contribution to the human capital, by nurturing and
educating the young’. He noted that the 2010/2011 academic
year had seen a 6% increase in the total registration of
students over the previous year while there had been a 15%
increase in new students for the 2011/2012 academic year. The
Chancellor also commented favourably on the 10% increase in
the number of males registered, noting that this represented
the result of the efforts being made to specifically target
males and interest them in higher education.
In their charge to the graduates, the three honorary
graduates addressed a common theme. Erna Brodber made
an impassioned plea for graduates to use their education
and skills to help lift up communities in the rural areas. “Our
university has done its job. It is over to us now the graduates,
to transform the barracks, the negro yards, the people holding
out their calabash bowls, their bamboo joints for the salted
fish, and their hands for the two suits of clothes due them by
law, into self sustaining communities of people”, she said.
Minna Israel argued that ‘around the globe, the voices of a
new young world are ringing out for change. I want to charge
you to use your education and life experiences at UWI to be
active change agents to improve Jamaica, and make it the
ideal place to work and live and raise families. Be courageous!
Be Brave! Be the change!” was her challenge to the graduates.
In the final address of the graduation ceremonies on Saturday
afternoon, Earl Jarrett noted the difficulties faced by the
region which continued to experience the outward migration
of 75% of our tertiary trained graduates. He encouraged the
new graduates to help make the region more welcoming:
“We must create a space for people from all over the world to
feel welcome in our region, and this may well include revising
some of our own immigration laws so that talented people
from across the globe can come here to achieve their
dreams.”
At the same time, he urged the graduates to seek to stay
in the region , “to strengthen organisations and allow new
entrepreneurial activities to bloom in the region… and, in
so doing, make real… the great prospects for the continued
development of our countries and region.”
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