IOB stretches its wings internationally

THE Institute of Business (IOB) of the University of the West Indies now has an exchange programme with eight international universities — two in Europe, three in North America, one in Japan and two in Latin America. This was disclosed on Friday night by Marsch Thomas-Frederick, who received a Post-Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management (PG-DHRM). She is now a lecturer in the programme. In the valedictory speech on behalf of her colleagues at the IOB graduation ceremony, held at the Hilton Trinidad, Point Fortin-born Thomas-Frederick traced her academic career from primary school through University to the post-graduate PG-DHRM diploma.

And what propelled her into the field of Human Resource management? “It started after five years of exposure to the supervisory world, training and development, accounting and core HR practice. “I decided to enroll in the IOB Diploma programme, because a graduate expounded to me the virtues of this programme. “My enrolment has certainly charted the course of my career, and served as the turning point in my entire life,” she said. She noted that with IOB’s recognition worldwide, there is a diversity of students enrolled locally. Other valedictorians included Charon Ince-Christopher who spoke on behalf of the class in Management Information Systems. She praised the UWI Faculty of Sciences for affording them the opportunity to study in a modern facility that is currently being upgraded to meet the requirements expected of a top class institution operating in a global market place.

The valedictory speech for graduates of the International Master in Business Administration was given by Paula Marcelle. She highlighted the dollar for dollar programme that afforded her and her colleagues the opportunity to make a premium investment in their future at half price. Marcelle also noted the exposure of Business Spanish as yet another strategy of the IOB to prepare them for the globalisation of world markets, especially the most talked about Free Trade Area of the Americas “that is fast becoming a reality.” The graduate thanked the Institute for placing such strong emphasis and importance on Spanish in the Curriculum, since it contributed to the students’ personal development and gave their companies a competitive advantage. Valedictorian Inskip Pollonais who studied for the Executive Masters of Business Administration  was the valedictorian for this unit.

His speech, directed to both employers and the government, urged private sector employers to accept the Executive MBA as a means of developing their future leadership, and as a way of ensuring that their firms possessed the required competencies and skills to continue to be profitable and successful. He called on government to emphasise “learning across the board,” if the country is to “embrace the opportunities and overcome challenges presented by the ever-increasing globalised village.” In this regard, he suggested that community centres, especially in the less developed areas of the country be re-engineered and re-tooled to serve as a catalyst for the learning that must take place within those communities. “We note your efforts to date, but more is needed to be done, if we are not to leave any generation behind,” he said.