By Richard Lord, Express TT

LEGISLATION is being drafted to establish an Accreditation Commission, Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education Danny Montano has revealed.

He was addressing the launch of celebrations to mark the tenth anniversary of the Caribbean Union College’s MBA programme and recognition ceremony for the graduates of 2001 and 2002.

Montano said the establishment of the commission "is foremost on my agenda".

He said: "It was imperative that Government control the awarding of degrees and other educational certificates."

Montano said there were many institutions in Trinidad and Tobago which had profit as the primary objective, and students were paying for courses and degrees with accreditation uncertain.

He explained the proposed legislation was expected to be brought to Parliament in the next three months, adding that, apart from having the courses offered by those institutions accredited, the institutions should also be licensed.

On the announcement by Prime Minister Patrick Manning of the creation of a University of Trinidad and Tobago, Montano said the new institution "will have as its initial and primary goal, to satisfy the deficiencies at the professional and engineering levels."

Dealing with the St Augustine campus of the UWI, Montano said there was a significant shortfall of available university places for qualifying students in Trinidad and Tobago.

"The problem is further compounded by the fact that the offerings by UWI are still limited, and do not embrace several areas where there are exciting career opportunities in the local industrial, energy and commercial sectors," Montano added.

He said UWI "has had difficulties in responding in a timely manner to the needs of Trinidad and Tobago" because of constraints in funding, bureaucracy and the demands from more than 15 countries.

It was against that background that he spoke of the need to set up the Trinidad and Tobago University of Science, Engineering and Technology.