Hotel magnate John Issa has called for the newest batch of University of the West Indies graduates to be part of the solution to the wave of tertiary-educated Jamaicans who leave the island.

Issa, who was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree during the ceremony at the university's Mona campus, said the brain drain was very disturbing.

"We have to ask, however, which countries have benefited most from the work done by this great institution over the decades," Issa said Saturday. "The information I have been able to obtain applies to Jamaica and, since the vast majority of you are Jamaican, I believe it is relevant."

The stats

Issa quoted figures from a 2006 Planning Institute of Jamaica paper, which showed that for every tertiary-educated Jamaican living in the island, there are more than three living abroad. The study also stated that from the start of the decade, of Jamaicans over the age of 25 with university education, 89,000 continued to stay in the island, while 291,000 forged their destinies elsewhere.

In the same presentation, the chairman of the SuperClubs chain also called for the Jamaican graduates to find a way to raise the level of Jamaicans with tertiary-level education to that of 60 per cent.

"This reality, combined with the fact that only a relatively small percentage of us receive a tertiary-level education in the first place, predicts a most depressing future for our beloved island," he said.

"That is, unless this trend is changed. Barbados and Trinidad, I am advised, are setting targets of having 60 per cent of their students achieving tertiary-level training within 10 years or so. They realise that their future prosperity will depend more on the quality of their people and less on the abundance of their natural resources," he said.

Issa said Jamaica needs to set itself a 60 per cent target and, in doing so, the educational sector would need to be rationalised.

"This reorganisation would need to start in the primary schools so that those entering secondary schools are literate and numerate. It will then need to include the secondary schools to further ensure that those who pass through those institutions are prepared for a tertiary education," he said.

He added: "We can then deal with the matter of achieving a 60 per cent target of tertiary education for those that leave secondary school."

Issa, who spoke during the last graduation exercise at the campus, was among five persons to receive honorary degrees. The other four were Oliver Clarke, Professor Colin Palmer, John Maxwell and Dr Anne Walmsley.

mark.beckford@gleanerjm.com