26 / 64
VI
THE UNIVERSITY COUNCIL OF JAMAICA FEATURE | MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018
F
OR OVER 30 years, the University
Council of Jamaica (UCJ) has
ensured that credentials issued in
Jamaica are globally accepted. Higher
education is a traded
commodity on the
international stage, and it
is the work of the UCJ
that safeguards
Jamaica’s competitive
position in this arena.
The environment is
dynamic and is constantly
being transformed by
social, political, and economic
forces. For Jamaica to
successfully compete in the global
arena, and for the organisation to
remain relevant and succeed in fulfilling
its mission, it must have the capacity to
respond appropriately to these
environmental changes.
The UCJ has now reached the level of
maturity that requires that it put itself up
for external review. To this end, the UCJ
has undertaken an institutional review of
its own processes and performance.
The purpose is to ensure that
these systems are robust
enough to not only address
the country’s strategic
development goals and
agenda through higher
education, but also that
these processes and
procedures are benchmarked
against international standards of
good practice.
Consequently, the UCJ has
embarked on a journey to become a
world-class organisation with a Quality
Management System (QMS) that will
continuously achieve the International
Standardisation Organisation (ISO)
9001:2015 certification.
This journey has started in earnest
and involves not just changes in the
UCJ’s execution of its functions, but
also a systemic change in the culture
and environment of the organisation.
To ensure the success of this
endeavour, the UCJ has established a
dedicated Quality Management System
Steering Committee, which has
responsibility and oversight for the
implementation of the UCJ’s QMS and
ISO 9001:2015 certification.
STAFF WELL TRAINED
All staff at the UCJ have undergone
training with the Bureau of Standards
Jamaica, in preparation for ISO
certification, including internal
auditing and QMS documentation.
As the UCJ celebrates its 13th Annual
Quality Assurance in Higher Education
Week under the theme, ‘Enhancing
and Sustaining Quality in Institutions’,
the council will continue to ensure
that its stakeholders, too, become
internationally benchmarked and
competitive by exposing them to the
rudiments of institutional quality
assurance systems.
The result will be institutions
developing and maintaining a quality
culture, the increased marketability of
their graduates and the realisation of
greater potential for economic growth
and competitiveness at the national level.
On behalf of the Council, I congratulate
the management and staff of the
University Council of Jamaica for
ensuring that it leads the charge to build
solid competitive human capacity in
higher education for Jamaica.
DR CAROLYN HAYLE
Chairman
UCJ
MESSAGES
Continue to build competitive human capacity