I am extremely pleased this evening to be a part of this occasion which marks yet another milestone, perhaps the most significant one, in the development of the Anguilla Community College. The launch of the Anguilla Community College Development Project is an occasion to be celebrated not only by the College Board, Ministry of Education and the Government of Anguilla, but the people of Anguilla as a whole. Finally, we are able to lay the foundation literally and figuratively for the further advancement of our people by providing our College with a permanent home from which it can extend its reach and increase its impact.
I must, on behalf of my Ministry place on record our gratitude to the Caribbean Development Bank for helping us to reach this milestone. Over time CDB has built an intimate relationship with the Anguilla Community College. CDB has provided technical assistance for the development of a blue print for the College’s Hospitality Studies Institute and was also committed to financing a feasibility study for the development of that institute. Though plans were changed along the way, CDB has remained a faithful partner and has stood alongside ACC providing guidance and assistance when necessary. Dr Denny and her team are to be commended in particular for walking us through this entire process. Through your work, you have been true to your organizations mission statement, which is:
“to be the leading catalyst for development resources into the Region, working in an efficient, responsive and collaborative manner with [your] Borrowing Member Countries and other development partners, towards the systematic reduction of poverty in their countries through social and economic development.”
Thank you for believing in the ACC and for everything that you have done to get us to this point. We look forward to working with you to see this project through to completion.
It is well established that people must be at the centre of development. Like any other country, our true wealth lies in our human capital. To determine the state of our progress, we cannot simply assess how much money is flowing through the country but we must assess the education and skill level and marketability of our human resources. Many of us refer to Anguilla’s years of economic boom with pride. While the years of boom were indeed reason to celebrate, these years of successive economic contraction should demonstrate to us that economic booms associated with physical developments can be fleeting. The biblical comparison of what happens during stormy times when we have a house that was built on the sand, as opposed to one that is built on the rock readily comes to mind in this regard. If we are to build a nation that is truly wealthy in a sustainable sense, we have to invest in the development of people. We can do this by ensuring that there is ready access to relevant, quality education and training.
In the book Human Resource Needs and the Tertiary Education Sector Response in the Caribbean edited by Drs Bevis Peters and Louis Whittington, which documents the results of a study carried out between 2005 and 2007 by the then Tertiary Level Institutions Unit of the University of the West Indies, it is said that:
“Caribbean tertiary education is a necessary condition for development…. Beyond the promotion of individual aspirations, it is expected that the tertiary education sector will continue to be a driving force for the development of individual countries and for collective development of the regional community. It must be an enterprising sector, which should be nurtured as the premier enabling agency for advancing vital development strategies to improve the environment and the overall quality of life of citizens of the Caribbean.”
Interestingly it was during this time period that the same Dr Bevis Peters and our very own Anguillian Professor Arthur Richardson of the UWI School of Education prepared a concept paper for a national college for Anguilla. In 2006 Dr Peters completed and submitted to Government the Master Plan for the Anguilla National College 2006 to 2016 Access, Partnership and Responsiveness.
It is by no accident that the title of the Master Plan for the Anguilla Community College includes the words “Access, partnership and responsiveness”. These few words speak volumes of what is expected from this institution. As articulated in the Master Plan, the programmes offered by the Anguilla Community College must be accessible. Embodied in the concept of accessibility, is affordability as well as convenience and flexibility. The College must cater to traditional and non-traditional students, provide flexible means of teaching and learning and alternative routes to entry and completion.
Partnership indicates the need to work together with industry which not only presents a ready pool of prospective students, but can also provide financial and technical assistance, networking opportunities and facilities for reality based training. Partnership also highlights the opportunity to engage with other institutions through franchise and articulation arrangements to ensure the progression of students to their ultimate goals. But most importantly, partnership connotes an arrangement with the population you serve, best evidenced by their support for the institution which will be forthcoming once they are satisfied with your service delivery and their needs are being met.
This leads into the issue of responsiveness. This College must be a dynamic organization. In fact, it is an organism, a living thing. It cannot be static. It must be adaptable and responsive. As Anguilla changes, the developmental needs of the country and our people will change, our expectations of this College will change, standards required by industry may change. This College must be able to respond appropriately and in a timely manner to those changes so that the programme offerings are always relevant and useful.
While the ACC has developed its new mission and vision, I charge the Board, President and his team to always remember the three basic principles of access, partnership and responsiveness which are the cornerstone of the institution you are building. This is a challenging period in Anguilla’s social, economic and political development. While we seek to combat and prevent social decline, try to find new means of generating revenue and reducing expenditure and prepare for another general election, the ACC must continue, even in this period of its own transition, to provide opportunities for our people to advance intellectually so that they could fully participate in our development both as contributors and as beneficiaries.
I also remind you to remain cognisant of the global context in which the College must operate. In the Master Plan for the Anguilla Community College, Dr Bevis Peters highlighted the global influences that will affect the operations of the College. He stated:
“Global influences affecting how Anguilla must respond in relation to the development of its human resources at the tertiary level include the new demands for education and training created by the knowledge explosion, science and technological advances, increased international mobility of capital, labour and services; and in the case of tertiary education the emergence of an “off-shore” sector which has become central to what is now coined as “borderless” education provision.”
From all reports and discussions, I am confident that to date the ACC has remained on target and that its developmental trajectory is one that is in keeping with the needs and aspirations of the Anguillian people. I pledge the continued support of the Government of Anguilla for the ACC. The ACC has required and will continue to require significant investment from this Government, but it is an investment that we must continue to make because it is an investment in our people who are the true wealth of our nation. I trust that this institution will be a beacon in our community and will stand as a manifestation of the value that we place on human capital development. I wish the Board and members of the Project Steering Committee every success in guiding this project to its completion.
A pleasant evening to all.
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
