Education Ministry gets video conferencing equipment

DPI, GUYANA, Friday, February 9, 2018

The National Accreditation Council (NAC) of the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Thursday was gifted US$2,000 worth of video conferencing equipment by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to assist in the execution of its mandate, as it works to continuously improve the services offered.

UNESCO’s Secretary-General to Guyana, Patrice La Fleur handed over the piece of equipment to Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry at the NAC’s Barima Avenue office.

Minister of Education Nicolette Henry and NAC Executive Director Debra Jack with the equipment on Thursday.

In her remarks,  Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry said the equipment will ensure greater impact at a lower cost while at the same time improving the efficiency of the NAC.  Minister Henry expressed gratitude for the donation and assured that the MOE will always look to new methods in the delivery of education services in Guyana.

Executive Director of the NAC, Debra Jack, in her remarks, said that the donation is timely as the equipment will lessen the expenses for travelling abroad for training, as it will also be used for training purposes. According to the Executive Director, the NAC is always looking to conform to international standards, and that the video conferencing equipment will help in this regard.

“We have to keep learning and keep ourselves abreast with what are the international standards.”

Additionally, Jack said that the NAC must be able to establish a service that can effectively measure quality assurance at the tertiary and post-tertiary levels.

Over the last two years, there has been a concerted effort by the Government of Guyana (GoG) to strengthen the NAC to improve its functioning to quality assurance for all post-secondary and tertiary educational institutions in Guyana using internationally recognised best practices and standards.

The NAC is now poised to benefit from continuous technical support from the Accreditation Council of Trinidad and Tobago (that already has the technology and can facilitate such training).

The procurement of the video conferencing system will allow the National Accreditation Council to:

  • Participate in webinars conducted by CANQATE in various quality assurance areas that would benefit more than fifty persons from the National Accreditation Council, post-secondary and tertiary institutions, and other professionals who are interested in quality assurance.
  • Organize training exercises with the ACTT in areas such as accreditation, where NAC staff still require much training to begin to deliver this service.
  • Conduct on-going scheduled and ad hoc mentoring of NAC officers and External Evaluators in the delivery of the registration, accreditation, recognition and equivalency services.
  • Participate in other quality assurance training exercises and webinars conducted by international quality agencies such as the International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) and Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

 

By: Alexis Rodney

 

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