BpTT gives $60M for TT university

Energy giant bpTT has pledged US$10 million to go towards the establishment of the new University of Trinidad and Tobago. BP group chief executive Officer (CEO), Lord John Browne made this announcement during a reception in his honour at Paria Suites in La Romaine yesterday. Addressing an audience which included Prime Minister Patrick Manning, Opposition leader Basdeo Panday, US Ambassador Dr Roy Austin and members of the local business community, Lord Browne identified education as “the key” to economic and developmental sustainability.

“Education is the key to sustainability because if any country wants to secure its place in a competitive world, it has to develop its human capital,” Lord Browne said. “A strong system of higher education provides a community with leaders in all fields, as well as a higher level of skills. Such a system helps to develop a culture of learning and gives people a lifelong commitment to personal development. It helps to create an open, educated and forward-looking society,” he added.

Lord Browne, who holds degrees in both Physics and Business, observed that TT’s “great strength” lay in it’s educational system and reaffirmed BP’s commitment to the “development of that strength,” adding that some 650 Trinidadians were employed by the multi-national Energy giant corporation. Lord Browne is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a Fellow of Physics.