Tertiary education is a matter of opportunity and cost, educator says

An official in the Ministry of Education is of the opinion that tertiary education should not be limited to the region.
Education Officer with responsibility for Guidance and Counselling, Andrea Airall shared that while she is an alumni of the University of the West Indies (UWI), there should be no issue with choosing a school based in the United States or further afield.
“I am a product of UWI and then I later went on to a university in the US. My thing is we have to weigh balance. We have UWI programmes available here and you have to look at the cost, you may start at UWI and continue and we move on,” she said in an OBSERVER media interview.
Airall added that instead of seeing regional and international schools as either or, it all comes down to various factors such as cost at the end of the day.
“It is not regional versus international; it comes down to opportunity and cost and there are some scholarships that must be fulfilled in particular regions or they are being offered by certain regions. You have to look at the opportunities that are there in terms of what you want to study.
“In Antigua, we also have the situation which a lot of our children are born in the US, Canada and elsewhere so that is also a factor in the decision-making process and I think for us, cost is an important factor.”
Airall said that parents need to be involved in the decision making process before their children reach to the age of university.
“Persons tend to wait until Antigua State College or fifth form and when you ask them what are their plans and what they plan to study, they say ‘I was born in the US’ or ‘I’m going by my aunty’ and no real preparation as to the potential school and what is the cost,” the educator said.
Her comments were made ahead of the upcoming International College Fair that will be held at the Multipurpose Centre on February 6.
“We are having a person from Education USA. They are based in the Embassy and they give comprehensive and unbiased information as it relates to studying in the US and we’re also having an officer, the Canadian High Commissioner so we have support persons students and parents can listen to with regards to studying in those places.”
She again encouraged parents to attend the fair with their children.