The University of Technology's graduating class of 2005. - File The Kingston-based university is projecting a 20 per cent increase in student intake in the 2009/10 academic year.

The University of Technology (UTech) has introduced several new degree programmes with the expectation that the investment will result in a 20 per cent increase in enrolment and more income from fees for the academic year 2009-2010.

"We have tried to search through the marketplace for areas which are not being serviced," says Chief Financial Officer Deryk Smith.

"We have focused on courses to allow our students to be able to have the skills to be entrepreneurs."

New programmes include a Master of Business Administration in 'agro-preneurship', programmes in dentistry, civil engineering, new courses in accounting, as well law (LLB) and nursing.

The University has also rolled out a Bachelor of Science in the art and science of coaching as well as a Master of Science in physical education and sports offered in collaboration with G.C. Foster College.

The school is also offering a doctorate in human environmental sciences with an option in hospitality administration in collaboration with the Oklahoma State University (OSU) in the United States.

This new doctoral programme is said to be the university's response to several requests from local businesses and educational institutions for higher education in the hospitality and tourism management in Jamaica.

"We are hoping to have about a 20 per cent increase in student membership stretched throughout the academic year," said Smith.

Income from fees which stood at $1.1 billion in 2008, an increase of over $936.6 million in 2007, is expected to rise.

Smith notes, however, that the expected increase in enrolment will likely not translate into 20 per cent increase in income, saying - except for advanced degrees - courses are not priced at their full economic cost.

Undergraduate programmes are subsidised by Government.

Fees represent one third of the university's income, with Gover-nment subventions - amounting to $1.2 billion in 2008 - being the other major source of tuition revenue.

The Government grant to UTech is budgeted this year at $1.9 billion, increase that revenue source by about 58 per cent.

The university also increased fees for existing programmes for 2009/2010.

Payment of staff represents the school's main recurrent cost - amounting in 2008 to $1.86 billion, down from $2.1 billion in 2007.

According to Smith, the new programmes "emphasise the creation of skills-ready individuals who can become employers eventually".

Smith declined to disclose the size of the investment being made in developing and promoting the new courses, but said that UTech's campuses were being readied for the anticipated student population growth.

upgrading

"We are upgrading the (main) campus at Papine in Kingston for the upcoming academic year and we are also expanding in Montego Bay," Smith told Sunday Business.

UTech also operates a nursing school at Barnett Clinic in Montego Bay, offers programmes at the Montego Bay Community College, and has acquired premises at Kent Avenue for business-related courses.

"We are in expansionist mode," he said.

The university's property, plant and equipment was valued on its balance sheet at $1.8 billion in value in 2008.

Dr Winsome Russell, associate vice-president for academic management and quality assurance, says that new courses have been designed to "keep abreast of changes and demands of the labour market through consultation with our stakeholders in industry and cooperative education placement partners."

The new two-year MBA in agro-preneurship will be offered in association with Portland-based College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE), starting September.

Dr Robert Logan, coordinator of the programme at CASE, notes that this is the first masters programme to be offered by the college - adding to the diploma, associate and undergraduate degree programmes.

The advanced degree covers managing businesses engaged in agricultural production, processing and marketing. "Agriculture is a specialised area and a difficult business to manage," said Logan.

"It is important that special training be provided."

The programme will last for two years.

Classes will be held at UTech's Papine campus, and the Jamaica Institute of Management in Kingston and in Montego Bay.

UTech also boasts that its LLB programme is growing - the first cohort in the coming academic year is 714 compared to 500 for the first cohort in academic year 2008/09.

It incorporates practical com-ponents such as a 'Law and Society Conference' in which students present their research findings; and offers specialisations such as sports, entertainment and media law.

first for the caribbean

Another course which is believed to make significant impact is the new degree in civil engineering which represents a first for a Jamaican campus.

Currently, the degree is offered at St Augustine in Trinidad by the University of the West Indies.

The new bachelor in civil engineering involves options in construction engineering, environ-mental engineering, structural design and transportation engineering, with options for study abroad at accredited universities in the final year.

Career opportunities are said to include waste to energy technologies, water resource engineering, land development and drainage, transportation, land management and regional planning, forest engineering, safety and health, construction supervision as well as hydraulic and earth retaining engineering.

The university, under its newly established College of Health Sciences - formerly the faculty of health and applied science - expanded its offerings with the addition of undergraduate programmes in dental hygiene, dental laboratory technology and dental nursing/therapy, and a diploma in dental assisting.

avia.collinder@gleanerjm.com