The Certificate of Recognition of CARICOM Skills Qualification programme facilitates the free movement of labour by CARICOM Skilled Nationals (CSNs) by allowing CSNs of participating CARICOM nations to move between nations to seek and pursue work opportunities without needing to obtain a work permit. The information below provides insight into the performance of this programme during the quarter January 1, 2022, to March 31, 2022. We invite all readers to visit our website at www.bac.gov.bb to learn more about this programme and assess their eligibility to qualify as a CARICOM Skilled National.
During the quarter January – March 2022, seventy-seven (77) Certificate applications and twenty-six (26) Certificate verification requests were received. There were seventy-two (72) Certificates issued to successful applicants and twenty-one (21) Certificates verified for holders of Certificates issued elsewhere in the region. These numbers represent increases in many regards, and decreases in others, compared to the previous quarter, October – December 2021. During that quarter, the Barbados Accreditation Council received eight-six (86) Certificate applications and twenty-three (23) Certificate verification requests while issuing forty-three (43) Certificates and verifying twenty (20) more.
As the chart above shows, the largest number of Certificates were issued to nationals from Jamaica. No Certificates were issued to nationals from Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, Montserrat, and Suriname. Historically, Barbadian nationals have accounted for upwards of 50% of recipients of CARICOM Skills Certificates in most cases. However, the theme throughout 2021 and the beginning of 2022 has been that Jamaican nationals have become the most common applicants for CARICOM Skills Certificates.
The largest number of the seventy-two (72) Certificates issued were to those who applied under the Graduate category. No Certificates were issued to anyone under the categories Nurse, Teacher, Agricultural Worker, Security Guard and Media Person.
Certificates were issued mostly to recipients who fell between the ages of 21 & 30, with the two age groups within this range each accounting for 26% of Certificate recipients.
BARBADOS ACCREDITATION COUNCIL RECOGNITION SERVICES
The table shows that the most sought-after Recognition service during the quarter was the BAC’s Recognition of Institution and/or Programme service. Through this service, applicants can have the Council perform an assessment on an institution and/or programme of their choice to determine its recognition status and credibility.
BARBADOS ACCREDITATION COUNCIL REGISTRATION SERVICES
This quarter’s tally of six (6) registrations/re-registrations represented an increase of one from the previous quarter, where five (5) institutions were registered or re-registered. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused difficulties for institutions as some would have experienced significantly lower student intake numbers and, as a result, had difficulties maintaining their operations. As such, it is encouraging to see that as the world tries to emerge from the pandemic, institutions are still maintaining their registration status and some are becoming registered for the first time, as is the case with Bridgetown International University School of Medicine.
To learn more about Registration with the BAC, or any of its other services, we invite you to visit our website at www.bac.gov.bb.
