The decision to provide financial assistance, under the Prime Minister’s Scholarship programme, only to students desirous of pursuing studies at the campuses of the University of the West Indies (UWI), does not sit well with an educator of over 15 years at the undergraduate level at the Antigua State College.
D Gisele Isaac said this is unfortunate given that Antigua & Barbuda is seeking to educate students for the world.
“I am afraid if you limit scholarships only to regional institutions, that we are going to have just a regional view and not a world view. This is a global economy in which countries are competing, so we need to have an education base that is as wide as possible,” Isaac said.
She stated that she has no issue with regional institutions, however she is of the view that UWI and any other regional institutions do not constitute “the world”.
“I think we need comparative education in the same as we need comparative anything else. So, I am afraid that we are looking inwards rather than outwards when the whole world is going in a different direction,” Isaac said.
Chairman of the Scholarship Committee Maurice Merchant said on Tuesday, the programme, which is bursting at the seams, would be streamlined to cut cost as well as to promote tertiary education within the region.
More in today’s Daily Observer.