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University of the West Indies (Mona) to commission new state-of-the-art medical school
Professor McDonald said the enrollment at the university was increased from 100 students in 2004, to the current 350, in order to secure funding to build the new facility. With foreign students having to pay the full US$28,000 per year for tuition, more of these students were enrolled gradually over the last four years.
The fees from these students, in addition to a loan secured by the campus were used to finance the construction.
“Less than half the students are Jamaican students. A large number of them are from Trinidad & Tobago. Having better facilities has enabled us to take students not only from Trinidad & Tobago, but from all over the world,” said Professor McDonald.
By increasing its foreign student cohort, the university hopes to be better able to assist more Jamaican students who are not funded by the government. Those who benefit from a government subvention pay about J$575,000 (US$ 6,371) per annum. Currently, the faculty pays half of the tuition for those students who don’t have this support through bursaries, so that they only pay about J$1.3 million (US$14,400) per year in tuition fees.
“The campus has put a lot of resources into that building, but it really is going to benefit the country of Jamaica and the entire Caribbean region,” he said.
Pro-vice chancellor and principal for the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Professor Gordon Shirley, said the new medical faculty is important for the future of the university and assured that the faculty did not intend to lower matriculation standards just to fill spaces.
“Quality is going to be a very important part of what we do, and so our capacity to expand will be a function of being able to ensure that we maintain quality, not only in the facilities, but in all aspects of the training and educational processes for our students,” he said.
The old medical faculty building will be used for the university’s engineering department.
