PARTNERSHIPS key

Focused on producing employable graduates, the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology (SJPI) sees the need to work closely with industry partners in educating their students.

Word of this comes from Principal of SJPI, Ian Drakes.

He was at the time contributing to yesterday’s panel discussion – “Importance of a Skill-Based Educational System to Barbados’ Economic Development” – a component of the Skills for the Future Summit at Sandals Royal Barbados, which brought the public and private sector partners together to discuss and collaborate on opportunities to build the skills industry.

“For us at SJPI what we have seen is the wonderful partnerships in the industry. And I have been saying for the last couple of years that it is no longer about what Ian Drakes thinks that is new and exciting and maybe sexy, but have that conversation with the industry partners to see what is driving the economy,” he pointed out.

“We have to train our young persons for jobs that have not been created as yet – to be digital, global, competitive citizens. So, we have been using that model in terms of the Skills of the Future, as it relates to having that conversation with the industry – what is driving the economy in terms of what they need.”

However, Mr. Drakes impressed the need for collaboration with the secondary schools. He proposed a day release programme, which would afford interested students the opportunity to come into SJPI.

“When we have an expensive piece of equipment and it is unused for even one-day it is underutilised. When can I have that collaboration with secondary school students, coming in and using it during that time and have that day release. You are whetting their appetite; you are exposing them to what is out there – when they submit their application they are flagged because they have done the day release…So the students have a better understanding before they reach SJPI and build on that foundation.”

The Principal also made it clear that he is not afraid of change, “I am buying into what the young, dynamic persons are saying – they are saying sir, this is what is needed in robotics, etc. and we are running with it because we understand from the industry this is what is driving it.

“As training institutions, it is more about driven by the industry and not what you as a leader feels is the greatest thing on earth, which maybe a waste of time,” he added.

Executive Director of the TVET Council Barbados, Henderson Eastmond is of the view that the Skills for the Future has realigned the thinking in Barbados.

He also said that training in this country must lead to an export driven economy.

“It must lead to a reduction in imports. So, when you look at the energy sector for example, our production costs are high because we already have high labour cost and we have high energy cost. But if we capitalise on the technology - we have to get smart, the technology is there we don’t have to invent it…We talk about the green economy, agriculture and food production, solar energy, and in the creative industries we have a fashion industry,” Eastmond highlighted.

“We have to get with it and we have to get with it through training; we have to get with it through standards. And our vision at the TVET Council going forward is Go wider, Go higher. So, we want to take up these new areas in these new sectors.”

Moreover, Country Coordinator of the A Ganar Programme, Ytannia Wiggins, urged the gathering not to forget the essential life skills also needed by their students.

“I want to call it core skills, which would be basic skills needed to operate as a citizen…

“You can enter the world of work with the greatest technical skills, greatest first-class degrees, but if you do not have those core skills – the skills of discipline, respect, communication and teamwork – you will not and cannot fit in any industry, anywhere in Barbados, in this region and in the world,” she stressed.

The Skills of the Future Programme is financed by the Inter-American Development Bank and by the Government of Barbados. (TL)