On The Move
Growth, Development and hence Change have always been with our OECS Community Colleges, and are necessary in order for us to move forward and be responsive to societal demands and trends. Our post-sescondary colleges have been integrally involved in many initiatives along the route to achieving some of our significant and pressing goals. There have been progressive developments in the areas of continuing education , modularization, semesterization, franchising, the advancement of distance education technology, the various reorganizational efforts at the divisional and departmental levels, and the proud establishment of the Associate Degree (AD), a European Union–funded initiative which sponsored a commonn approach to this programme by OECS Colleges. Other colleges and post-secondary institutions in the CARICOM region expressed an interest in coming on board and the Tertiary Level Institutions Unit of the UWI (TLIU) facilitated that initiative.
The developments cited above are neither haphazard nor unconnected.
Each one, working successfully, is part and parcel of the overall aims
and objectives of our Caribbean colleges to increase and expand the
certification options we offer to clients, to be flexible and attempt
to satisfy the demands placed on us by the wider community, to keep
abreast of international trends in education, to qualify students to
be eligible to follow logical paths into advanced institutions of higher
learning (articulation and accreditation) and to broaden the general
education base of every student who leaves our doors. There are others,
of course, but if we pause here and ponder, we must appreciate the
value of the AD infrastructure, which itself encompasses all of those
very ideals and which has fast become a reality of our tertiary education
environment.
What Is The Associate Degree?
Simply put, the AD is a student-friendly, post-secondary school qualification which can be of value either as a significant terminal entity of a good standard for those graduates heading to the work environment, or as a means to directly accessing an even higher tertiary level qualification i.e. the Bachelor’s Degree.
The general make-up of our AD falls into 3 strands :- a set of General Education Personal Competency Courses, Elective Courses and,of course, Major/ Minor Courses within a particular discipline consisting of specialized offerings.
Facilitating Access To Higher Education
There is no mystery attached to the AD. It is well-established in the USA. In the Caribbean, it has gained popularity and prestige. At least six OECS College campuses (from the BVI to Grenada) have AD programmes in place and these are recognized by the UWI, UTECH and many North American and British universities either for matriculation purposes with significant exemptions or for full credit value of the AD, i.e. approximately 60 credits. See REGIONAL QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK
VIEW REGIONAL QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK showing Type/Level of Programme, Orientation and Purpose, Credits, Entry Requirements, Occupational Competence, Academic Competence.
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