SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, March 16, 2009 – Grenada’s Education Minister Senator Franka Bernadine is expected to present a paper on Tertiary Education in the Caribbean at a Special Meeting in Costa Rica on Tuesday. Senator Bernadine, who will be one of the presenters from the region, is attending the “Access Quality and Socio-Cultural Inclusion in Higher Education” at Earth University. The Minister will speak specifically on the “Inter-Culturalisation” of higher education. “Discussions will focus on the cultural impact, the vision for tertiary education, factors affecting delivery and suggestions for the way forward for the region,” said Senator Bernadine. Two weeks ago the Minister attended the University of the West Indies (UWI) Grants Committee Meeting comprising Ministers of Education from the region along with the Vice Chancellor and four Pro-Vice Chancellors, the Bursar and other senior officials from the University. At that meeting Grenada commented on the limits to the budgetary allocations and assistance for the small islands, and was then supported by the Deputy Prime Minister of St. Kitts, Sam Condor, who is also the Minister for Education followed by the Hon. Girlyn Miguel, Minister for Education in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who expressed her concern about not having enough support from the University for Agriculture in St. Vincent. Dominica also supported Grenada including a request to attain more degree opportunities/scholarships for our teachers. Grenada has a 19 per cent graduate and trained teacher’s ratio as compared to Barbados, Bahamas, Trinidad, Jamaica and others with 100 per cent for the last 25 years or more. Most recently the Minister attended the CARICOM Education Ministers’ Meeting in Guyana which Grenada took over the Chairmanship in January 2009. SOURCE: Government of Grenada INSIDE GRENADA NEWS