Minister urges institutions to export education and make money

Education Minister, the Honourable Andrew Holness, is urging local education institutions to export education services and earn foreign exchange.

He told students and staff of the Mico University College in Kingston on Thursday evening (Feb 19) that local institutions such as the 174-year-old college are ideally placed to earn foreign exchange for themselves and the country.

The Minister was speaking at a long service award at Mico.

He said Mico is recognized as the oldest teacher training institution in the Caribbean, and this is a valuable marketing tool.

Minister Holness said education is an industry. He noted that in the United Kingdom education services surpass in value automotive services and food and beverage. A Sheffield University study in 2007 said the export value of UK education and training was valued at 28 billion pounds, more than that of financial services.

The Minister said education is such a large industry in Jamaica that 750,000 persons fall under the umbrella of education services at any one time.

He said the provision of education is big business in Australia. The value of Australia’s education exports grew 21 per cent in 2007, to replace tourism as the top services export and become Australia’s third largest export overall.

Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics valued education exports in 2007 at $12.5 billion compared to $11.5 billion for tourism. Education was worth more than all other Australian export industries in 2007, except coal and iron ore.

Reiterating that Mico is in a unique position to earn foreign exchange by providing education services to people overseas, the Minister said the 174-year-old institution is a known brand.

He said the Internet is a great opportunity for a university college such as Mico to export services abroad.

He said education services could be provided to countries which do not have as developed and sophisticated a system as Jamaica.

Observing that Mico has considerable expertise in special education, Minister Holness said this should be made available to the rest of the Caribbean.

He said the services could be provided through the Internet or the expansion of the physical plant to accommodate more Caribbean students.

He urged Mico to move quickly to implement this plan.