Dr. Jeanese Badenock, Lecturer at The University of the West Indies (UWI) and Chair of the Re-Accreditation and Quality Assurance committee at the Cave Hill Campus also spoke about the benefits of the Framework. “The wider population want to be assured that the qualifications in which they are investing time and money are of value and have currency. The Framework will provide these types of checks and balances so that they would know that a particular qualification is worth pursuing because it is of value.”
Regarding the value of lifelong learning, Dr. Badenock said that Barbadians were seen as highly educated. “Beyond those who have acquired formal qualifications, there are more folks that are just interested in acquiring knowledge for their own edification. Because we live in an age where you can access information at your fingertips through podcasts and YouTube channels, I think that this type of conversation is timely. For people who are interested in learning on a whole, we should encourage them to see acquired knowledge and learning as being of value and a gateway to taking them into a more formal setting.”
Speaking about education and training providers who may contemplate how to meet the registration requirements, Dr. Badenock said that their effort and investment would reap benefits. “Generally, all of the requirements of the accreditation process that UWI has been through has reaped benefits for us. We are now ranked a lot higher in international surveys and so there are significant benefits that the provider would be awarded as a result of following the regulations and requirements of the Framework. It will be an investment of time and effort but the rewards should outweigh those.”
The lecturer also suggested liaising for assistance from those providers who would have gone through the accreditation process and may have a more structured quality assurance mechanism in place.
