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UWI getting desperate?
Mona Campus wooing third formers as competition bites
BY LUKE DOUGLAS Sunday Observer Staff reporter [email protected]
Sunday, June 03, 2007
JOLTED by stiff competition from newer tertiary institutions and private scholarship recruitment agencies, the University of the West Indies (UWI) has become more aggressive in its drive to attract top Jamaican students to the Mona Campus.
The university is wooing bright ninth graders (third formers) to the campus, hoping that they will opt to study there once they complete high school. But the Mona administration has gone even further, and is making early firm offers of acceptance to students before they fully matriculate.
"We are recognising that we are in competition to recruit the brightest and the best," admitted Professor Elsa Leo-Rhynie, principal of the Mona campus.
UWI Mona principal, Prof Elsa Leo-Rhynie makes a point at a press conference on the campus last Monday. She is flanked by deputy principal, Joseph Pereira (left) and vice-chancellor Prof E Nigel Harris.
"We have been making early firm offers to high-performing CSEC and CAPE students. at the same time as many of them are getting from North American universities, so that we do form part of their decision-making", she said.
Leo-Rhynie said that to do otherwise would mean many students would take up an offer at a US college long before their CAPE results are out.
"We would have to wait until the CAPE results are out in August, which puts us in a position where we are the last choice rather than the first," she said.
Under its early offer programme the university has been offering a number of students places at the Mona Campus even before they sit their final year Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE), which they need to matriculate for most UWI degree programmes. If the students are unsuccessful in the second year of CAPE, they are placed in a four-year programme instead of the usual three-year programme.
But under a pilot scheduled to start next academic year, students will be offered places in three-year programmes based on their CSEC and first year CAPE results, even if they are unsuccessful in second year CAPE.
Campus registrar Anthony Falloon said the university would monitor the progress of those students accepted into three-year programmes, based on first year CAPE results.
"Over a number of years we will track the performance of those students to see how well they do with less than the normal matriculation requirements we have had over the years," he said at a press conference on May 28.
"That will enable us to make firm offers to three-year programmes early in the calendar year, say by February and, hopefully, by that means, compete with the competition better," Falloon said.
Private education consulting agencies like Dr Dennis Minott's A-QUEST and Versan Educational Services, headed by Sandra Bramwell-Riley, have been very successful in preparing Jamaican students for US colleges in recent years. Many of these students have won scholarships to prestigious institutions.
In April, the Sunday Observer reported that students registered with A-QUEST garnered scholarships worth more than $1 billion, including one offer valued at US$56,000, the largest non-military scholarship ever
awarded, according to Dr Minott.
And just last week the newspaper reported that 400 students who attended Versan would be leaving the island to study in North America, with 95 per cent of them gaining scholarships.
The success of A-QUEST, Versan and several other competing institutions has forced the UWI into proactive action to get its share of potential students.
For example, the university has been networking with high school guidance counsellors to promote UWI as the institution of choice among their students. These efforts have been very successful, Falloon said.
"What is of interest is, we may find the brightest student in any one year coming out of the non-traditional schools, and that gives us a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction, in that we have a social commitment with respect to discovering where the brightest and best are," he said.
Under the third form outreach programme, the teenagers are invited to the campus for tours and presented with small gifts.
"They are at that critical point where they begin to think about a higher education. We do this to help them to build a picture of where they want to go," Falloon said.
Sixth formers are also being targeted by UWI Mona, as they are invited to special functions such as the annual Matriculation and Welcome Ceremony, and graduation exercise.
"It's about keeping UWI in the forefront of their thinking so that it will be the obvious place for them to go when that time comes for them to fill in their application forms," Falloon said.
Mona is also seeking to improve its system of financial support through bursaries in order to assist students in need, the registrar said.
Mona Campus wooing third formers as competition bites
BY LUKE DOUGLAS Sunday Observer Staff reporter [email protected]
Sunday, June 03, 2007
JOLTED by stiff competition from newer tertiary institutions and private scholarship recruitment agencies, the University of the West Indies (UWI) has become more aggressive in its drive to attract top Jamaican students to the Mona Campus.
The university is wooing bright ninth graders (third formers) to the campus, hoping that they will opt to study there once they complete high school. But the Mona administration has gone even further, and is making early firm offers of acceptance to students before they fully matriculate.
"We are recognising that we are in competition to recruit the brightest and the best," admitted Professor Elsa Leo-Rhynie, principal of the Mona campus.
UWI Mona principal, Prof Elsa Leo-Rhynie makes a point at a press conference on the campus last Monday. She is flanked by deputy principal, Joseph Pereira (left) and vice-chancellor Prof E Nigel Harris.
"We have been making early firm offers to high-performing CSEC and CAPE students. at the same time as many of them are getting from North American universities, so that we do form part of their decision-making", she said.
Leo-Rhynie said that to do otherwise would mean many students would take up an offer at a US college long before their CAPE results are out.
"We would have to wait until the CAPE results are out in August, which puts us in a position where we are the last choice rather than the first," she said.
Under its early offer programme the university has been offering a number of students places at the Mona Campus even before they sit their final year Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE), which they need to matriculate for most UWI degree programmes. If the students are unsuccessful in the second year of CAPE, they are placed in a four-year programme instead of the usual three-year programme.
But under a pilot scheduled to start next academic year, students will be offered places in three-year programmes based on their CSEC and first year CAPE results, even if they are unsuccessful in second year CAPE.
Campus registrar Anthony Falloon said the university would monitor the progress of those students accepted into three-year programmes, based on first year CAPE results.
"Over a number of years we will track the performance of those students to see how well they do with less than the normal matriculation requirements we have had over the years," he said at a press conference on May 28.
"That will enable us to make firm offers to three-year programmes early in the calendar year, say by February and, hopefully, by that means, compete with the competition better," Falloon said.
Private education consulting agencies like Dr Dennis Minott's A-QUEST and Versan Educational Services, headed by Sandra Bramwell-Riley, have been very successful in preparing Jamaican students for US colleges in recent years. Many of these students have won scholarships to prestigious institutions.
In April, the Sunday Observer reported that students registered with A-QUEST garnered scholarships worth more than $1 billion, including one offer valued at US$56,000, the largest non-military scholarship ever
awarded, according to Dr Minott.
And just last week the newspaper reported that 400 students who attended Versan would be leaving the island to study in North America, with 95 per cent of them gaining scholarships.
The success of A-QUEST, Versan and several other competing institutions has forced the UWI into proactive action to get its share of potential students.
For example, the university has been networking with high school guidance counsellors to promote UWI as the institution of choice among their students. These efforts have been very successful, Falloon said.
"What is of interest is, we may find the brightest student in any one year coming out of the non-traditional schools, and that gives us a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction, in that we have a social commitment with respect to discovering where the brightest and best are," he said.
Under the third form outreach programme, the teenagers are invited to the campus for tours and presented with small gifts.
"They are at that critical point where they begin to think about a higher education. We do this to help them to build a picture of where they want to go," Falloon said.
Sixth formers are also being targeted by UWI Mona, as they are invited to special functions such as the annual Matriculation and Welcome Ceremony, and graduation exercise.
"It's about keeping UWI in the forefront of their thinking so that it will be the obvious place for them to go when that time comes for them to fill in their application forms," Falloon said.
Mona is also seeking to improve its system of financial support through bursaries in order to assist students in need, the registrar said.
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