First Citizens invests in students

In a press release yesterday, UWI St Augustine campus principal Professor Brian Copeland said he met with First Citizens Deputy CEO Operations and Administration, Sterling Frost on June 16, to discuss the importance of strategic planning, persistence and systemic change in charting a course toward the sustainable development of various industries in Trinidad and Tobago.

“A big ship takes miles to turn. We have been graduating top-class Computer Science students for years; if they were allowed to grow and develop we could have been exporting that talent.” He continued, “I commended Mr Frost and the team at First Citizens for recognizing the potential of my students and offering them an opportunity to add practical experience to their academic training.

There is no way we can develop the country without these kinds of partnerships.” Copeland said the 12-week programme has allowed the 15 students from the university to join the First Citizen Group.

He said the students have been tasked with tackling a range of ICT related projects under the supervision of both UWI faculty, and First Citizens ICT staff, and discussed the possibility of further iterations of the internship program which would see it extended beyond ICT to include other disciplines.

Dr Permanand Mohan head of the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology (DCIT) at UWI was also present at the meeting and expressed his appreciation for the commitment of the entire First Citizens team involved in the project remarking on the topdown support received by him and his colleagues. The program began on May 3 and concludes on August, 22.