Seven Jamaican students from The University of the West Indies – China Institute of Information Technology (UWI-CIIT) and Mona lecturer Dr Ezra Mugisa met with the Prime Minister of Jamaica – Andrew Holness, during a private reception at the Mandarin Oriental, Shanghai (China) on November 3, 2019.
This was the Prime Minister’s first, official visit to the People’s Republic of China.
During the discussion, Prime Minister Holness encouraged the students to be on the lookout for opportunities to transfer products and services from Jamaica to China, and vice versa.
He also encouraged them to recognise their role in parallel diplomacy, as the friends and connections they make in China can bode well in the future for trade, investment, and innovation in Jamaica.
The reception, organised by the Caribbean Association of China, also included Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kamina Johnson and Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries – Audley Shaw, as well as President of Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO)—Diane Edwards, members of the Jamaican Diaspora, and Chinese stakeholders.
The main idea from the discussions was to create a software engineering clinic—much like a legal clinic—where any government, statutory or private body can approach The UWI-CIIT in Suzhou, China for technical assistance and software solutions tailored to their needs. Justin Seale, The UWI-CIIT’s Assistant Registrar stationed in China, agreed to explore the idea.
Producing a generation of software engineers for the Caribbean is the UWI-CIIT’s primary goal, as it seeks to lay the foundation for a much-needed digital revolution in the region.
The BSc Software Engineering (Mobile Application Technologies), and potential applicants can visit www.uwi.edu/softwareengineering for more information.
