One hundred and fifty Students to Graduate from UWI Open Campus
PTFTC Programme
Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal. Thursday, 25 April 2019 - Tuesday 30 April 2019 will be a special day for some 150 fifth form students from seven secondary schools in Barbados. That’s the day they will graduate from the six-month programme titled “Preparing Today For Tomorrow’s Challenges” or PTFTC run by The UWI Open Campus.
The graduation ceremony takes place at the Hospitality Institute, Marine Gardens, Christ Church, Barbados and starts at 1:00 pm EC time.
The 150 students are returning fifth formers from Coleridge and Parry School, The Ellerslie School, Lester Vaughn School, St George Secondary School, Grantley Adams Memorial School, The St Michael School, and Frederick Smith Secondary School.
The objectives of the programme are to provide participants with the key concepts of personal, learning, writing and thinking skills, employability and life skills for the 21st century.
By the end of the six-months programme, students are expected to demonstrate improvement in learning, writing and thinking skills, and soft skills needed for work; and acquire hands-on experience in preparing their resume and for a job interview.
During the programme, students dealt with topics including presenting oneself and personal branding, effective communication, dealing with difficult people, conflict resolution, business etiquette, résumé writing and the interview process. They also received training in video-conferencing at The UWI Open Campus Learning Centre and dining etiquette at Divi Southwinds Hotel.
Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of The UWI Open Campus, Dr Luz Longsworth will deliver the feature address at Tuesday’s graduation. Dr Arvat Mc Claine, sponsor of the programme will deliver remarks, along with Open Campus Alumni Officer, Mrs Sandra Griffith-Carrington, the Programme Coordinator.
Seven of the students will be selected to undertake internships with The UWI Open Campus during the summer vacation, while others will intern at local companies and one charity. The students went through a formal interview process and also wrote an examination as part of the selection criteria.
The most anticipated announcement at Tuesday’s graduation will be that of the Most Outstanding Student Overall, and the top student from each of the seven secondary schools.
This is the fourth year the Preparing Today For Tomorrow’s Challenges programme is being hosted by The UWI Open Campus.
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Students from the Coleridge and Parry School participating the programme
About The UWI
For the past 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world. The UWI has evolved from a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally respected, regional university with near 50,000 students and four campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, and an Open Campus. As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Asia, and Africa such as the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development, the UWI-China Institute of Information Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies and the Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of Johannesburg (UJ). The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport.
As the region’s premier research academy, The UWI’s foremost objective is driving the growth and development of the regional economy. Times Higher Education has ranked The UWI among the top 1,258 universities in world for 2019, and the top 40 best universities in its Latin America Rankings for 2018, and was the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists. For more, visit www.uwi.edu.
(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)
