Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Montserrat could get offshore veterinary and nursing school

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

by: Karen ‘Lioness’ Allen
Caribbean Net News Montserrat Correspondent
Email: karen@caribbeannetnews.com

BRADES, Montserrat: The Government of Montserrat is currently in negotiations with a US-based organisation that has expressed an interest in setting up two offshore medical schools in Montserrat.

The CITI Health Training Center is Brooklyn, New York, wants to setup a veterinary educational institution and a nursing training school on the island.

A team from the US organisation is expected to visit Montserrat early January 2007, to continue discussions on the proposed project.

Chief Minister Dr Lowell Lewis said, “We have begun discussion with a north American group, who are interested in setting up a veterinary school and a nursing school here on Montserrat. We’re expecting a visit from them in January, and we’re hoping that that would be another successful venture.”

Executives from the New York-based CITI Health Training Center expressed their interest in doing business on Montserrat to Lewis, during a meeting at the 11th Caribbean Multinational Business conference in Colon, Panama, last month.

Lewis added, “I am pleased that they have chosen Montserrat as a possible site for their business. We’re keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that the volcano behaves itself and that when the team visits the island, we’ll be able to convince them there are sufficient areas in the north of the island which are not impacted by the volcano that would allow them to want to continue with their interest in having this veterinary school and nursing school on Montserrat.”

Left to be seen is whether or not this venture will actually get off the ground. Several institutions of higher education have shown interest in Montserrat. However, so far, most of the interest dies down or is short-lived. Some claim it is due to faulty policies that prove to be detrimental to the better economic good of the country, as well as the educational institutions themselves.

In 2006, the University of Science and Technology’s (USAT) president, Orient Tulp, held Montserrat’s current Governor, Deborah Barnes-Jones, solely responsible for the loss of 1.25 million pounds in revenue. This was due mainly to a lack of accreditation from the Governor’s office. Cassell University was another medical school established in Montserrat that failed shortly after. It is reported that Cassell University closed shortly after arriving due to their inability to be granted time to reside in the country through established immigration policies.

Hence, the public of Montserrat is waiting to see something similar to its successful prevolcanic relationship with AUC medical school. Perhaps, enough time and policy revisions have pass to ensure that latest proposed project for these two medical facilities sees its way through to a successful reality.

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