EDITORIAL: Potential should be embraced

Earlier this week the Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Ronald Jones, speaking in the House of Assembly, revealed that there were three more offshore medical schools showing interest in setting up operations in this country.

 

This is indeed good news for Barbados, which in 2010 saw its first offshore medical school, the American University of Barbados (AUB) School of Medicine, open its doors. Since starting operations in Wildey, St. Michael, that school has grown by leaps and bounds, moving its student enrolment from 25 to over 150 within a five-year period and even moving the campus to a former hotel property in Silver Sands, Christ Church.

 

This newspaper back in March 2015 did an interview with the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of the AUB, Dr. Gary Brar, who in speaking about the institution’s growth, noted that they were also making a significant contribution to the economy of Barbados by way of employment and equally important, the country’s main foreign exchange earner tourism. Moreover, he said at that time, that once they continue to increase their enrolment numbers, Barbadians can expect to see that contribution grow even more.

 

The basis for his thesis was that most of their students come from beyond these shores. Through these students coming to Barbados, there is the potential for family members to come to visit and just as the students seek accommodation, patronise various establishments and eat at restaurants across the island, so too will those relatives when they visit. Can you then imagine the knock-on effect for tourism, if three other offshore medical schools do indeed set up here, and attract around the same number of students, or more? We certainly believe that it has the potential to be a boost for the tourism industry and even possibly result in investment opportunities in the country.

 

The possible benefits to Barbados are numerous and if anyone should doubt that, they need only look at the impact that the St. George’s University in Grenada has had on that economy, employing hundreds of persons and educating over 10 000 persons, to see what Barbados is missing out on, and should seek to take advantage of.

 

In addition to these schools also presenting direct employment opportunities for locals, if successful, their growth could result in campuses being constructed, which would provide indirect jobs as well and an injection of much-needed money into the companies which supply construction materials and as well as other players in the construction sector.

 

Also of note is that the local public health-care system could benefit from the schools. Now there is no denying that the teaching facilities of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital are already stretched by the students from the Cave Hill Campus, but with new medical schools coming on stream, it may profit Government to give even more thought to establishing another hospital. As it stands these offshore medical school students do their internships overseas, but if they had the opportunity to remain in Barbados, for even longer, it could only redound to the benefit of the country and its citizens.

 

So even as Government seeks through the legislation passed in the Lower House earlier this week, to pave the way for these offshore schools to be accredited by the United States and ensure they meet and uphold high standards, efforts must also be made to ensure there is speedier processing of student visas, so as not to dissuade persons from choosing Barbados as the place to further their education.