Education conference can
position St. Maarten on map
PHILIPSBURG--The education conference organised by University of St. Martin (USM) is a good platform for St. Maarten to position itself on the map, Education Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams said during the official opening at the Philipsburg Cultural and Community Centre Wednesday.
Themed “Re-Thinking Education in the Caribbean: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, a local imperative in a global contact,” the conference will continue until Friday.
Wescot-Williams, who officially opened the conference, said it was an opportune time for St. Maarten to position itself on the map, not only geographically but also educationally.
“To position ourselves, we need to create the environment like USM has done now and on several occasions in the past,” she said. “The physical size of a university … should never be a deterrent not to think big. In fact, in today’s modern world, especially when it comes to education, the question of whether size matters or not is a moot one.”
USM President Josianne Fleming-Artsen said tertiary education was an area of neglect in the Netherlands Antilles. In her presentation themed “Key to a Brighter Future: A vision for higher education in the new St. Maarten,” Fleming-Artsen said, “In St. Maarten, work needs to be done in the tertiary and higher education sector and there are considerable challenges.”
She said that although the island boasted a post-secondary education vocational institute (SMITH), a university (USM), and post-graduate medical school (AUC), there was a fundamental need for a sound tertiary and higher education policy.
“Recognition should also be given to the fact that the majority of students at the medical school are not St. Maarten natives or Antilleans, while at USM the ratio is 60 per cent locals and 40 per cent non-Antilleans.”
She said a clear understanding of the education sector was necessary. “This understanding should include a proper definition of tertiary and higher education, the role that tertiary education plays in St. Maarten and the region especially in relation to migration and trans-nationalisation, new trends in the sector, sustainability and emphasis on the research element.”
She continued: “Proper laws and policies governing tertiary and higher education sector are a must, since these will provide more opportunities for participation for all our citizens, create improvement incentives for quality, research and information dissemination, while also encouraging citizens to realise the value.”
Head of the Department of Educational Studies at University of the West Indies (UWI), Jamaica, Professor Dr. Zellynne Jennings-Craig explored the subject “Innovations in the Caribbean education system.” She said innovations were only new to those using them for the first time, noting that the success of education innovations was based on the implementers. She said too that education innovations should be given a chance to properly develop.
Professor Dr. Marc Depaepe of Belgium spoke about “Dealing with the historical paradoxes of a globalised educationalisation – a way to write a new cultural history of education.”
Each lecture was followed by a question-and-answer session during which speakers fielded questions from the audience.
The conference, which will enable participants to share and compare their experiences in the field of education, continues at the USM campus until Friday.
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