Professor says timeframe to open University of A&B is ‘not doable’

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A regional university professor has raised concerns over part of the government’s plans to establish a University College of Antigua & Barbuda, saying that the suggested time frame is “not doable”.
Government officials had previously announced that the Five Islands-based campus would be launched in September 2017.
Professor and Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Guyana (UG) Paloma Mohamed Martin said Prime Minister Gaston Browne informed her delegation about the university on Monday while they were in Antigua.
“The time frame that he wants to do it in is really, really short for universities and this means that he will basically have to import a lot of skills, systems, policies and courses in order to get it up and running,” Martin said.
“In that quick window that he wants to do it in … it’s not doable. It is just going to be a lot of resources and help they will need.”
The delegation of educators also included the Registrar of UG, Nigel Gravesande, who along with Martin will seek the approval of their superiors before providing “the expertise necessary when the university comes on stream”.
Martin explained, “The registrar and I are just encountering this idea and we have to go back to our own vice chancellor and cabinet and say, ‘this is what Antigua & Barbuda wants to do; this is how we think we can help them, what do you think? Is this something that we can really support?’”
These exploratory discussions were held when the delegation toured the Antigua State College (ASC) and Antigua and Barbuda Institute of Information Technology (ABIIT) to promote UG preferential rates for Guyanese and other Caribbean nationals.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)

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