The Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association has reproduced this article which was published in the Express newspaper of December 3, 2003. It is a response to several articles written by Professor Spence in which the latter sought to discredit the Mount St. Vincent University and its involvement in education in Trinidad and Tobago and also in the TTUTA/MSVU Master of Education programme.

As Dean of Professional Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Canada, I am writing in response to a series of opinion pieces by John Spence on education in Trinidad and Tobago that were published in the Express. Let me start by making three important points. First, Mount St. Vincent has no interest in taking a position on Trinidadian education policy, which is properly the business of the Government and is people of Trinidad. Secondly, we see no useful purpose in comparing Mount Saint Vincent University and the University of the West Indies. Both are excellent universities with distinctive missions, and we have worked together in a number of contexts. We believe the two institutions share the view that in the new knowledge economy, education must be considered and delivered in a global context. Thirdly, as an institution which has been committed to teacher education for 130 years, we are fully committed to ensuring quality of teacher preparation and professional development, as is Mr. Spence. However, in his support for improving teacher education in Trinidad, Mr. Spence. However, in his support for improving teacher education in Trinidad, Mr. Spence has made a number of unjustified and inaccurate comments about Mount Saint Vincent University.

Mount Saint Vincent University has a distinguished history and is one of Canada’s oldest institutions, having been founded in 1873. It is a fully accredited university, holding a charter granted by the legislature of Nova Scotia, a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Association of Universities and the Colleges of Canada and, like UWI, a member of the Association of Atlantic Universities (AAU). Indeed, the Vice-Chancellor of Mount St. Vincent University officially represented the AAU at the 50th anniversary celebrations of UWI held on the Mona campus in 1998.

Over 4,600 women and men from around the globe attend the university, taking a range of both undergraduate and graduate programmes in an environment characterised by a commitment to small classes, high quality teaching, excellent research and community outreach.

Mr. Spence makes reference to various surveys and rankings of universities. Each of these surveys needs to be read in context with its intended purposes in mind. I will limit myself to commenting on the survey conducted annually in Canada by Maclean’s Magazine, which Mr. Spence has cited, incorrectly, Maclean’s ranks Canadian universities not in an overall ranking but in three distinctive categories: 1. medical-doctoral universities (into which category UWI would fit); 2. comprehensive universities; and 3. primarily undergraduate (into which MSVU fits). Thus, MSVU is not compared by Maclean’s with universities like Toronto or UBC, as Mr. Spence implies, as that would be comparing “apples and oranges”. Maclean’s also measures 21 different indicators, so that prospective students can look at each of these indicators as well as overall rankings. Thus, in 2002 MSVU ranked first and second out of 21 universities in its category with respect to class size indicators, third with respect to library acquisitions, sixth with respect to international first year enrollments and eight for average entering grade and 12th overall. It is also worth noting that on many indicators there are differences of only part of a decimal point between universities.

Teacher education was one of the first programmes offered at MSVU. Today, it is the largest of the education departments in Atlantic Canada with more that 300 students in Bachelor of Education programmes and more than 600 graduate students. Twice in the last decade the programme has been very positively reviewed by external reviewers selected by the Government of Nova Scotia as part of an overall strategy for ensuring quality teacher education programmes in the province. Many of the students are pursuing their degrees off campus in locations across Nova Scotia, Canada, and the globe, particularly in the Caribbean where we have a long history of successful partnerships.

Mr. Spence correctly made the point that “a syllabus needs to be developed indigenously rather than by foreigners from an alien environment”. In fact, the curriculum guides for all eight core subjects developed for all the Secondary Education Modernisation Programme were written by teams of local teachers and Curriculum Officers working ourof the Learning Resource Centre. These individuals are acknowledged in the curriculum guides. There was a wide consultation with principals, teachers and other stakeholders, including a major national curriculum consultation in June 2002. We are recognised internationally for the quality of our programmes, our commitment to working with out local partners, and for offering cutting edge content, relevant to the local context, through innovative delivery methods.

This recognition has translated into our success in competing for contracts funded by international development banks where we have been complimented for our ability to bring together broad consortia of international and local expertise to address local goals. In the case of IADB contracts over US$250,000, we understand that a contract of this value cannot be awarded automatically to local institutions; the bidding process must be open to institutions from all IADB countries, and the adjudication process must be open and competitive with the contract going to the best bid. We feel our selection under these rigorous conditions speaks directly to the quality of what we do, as assessed by those well versed in such matters.

My final point of clarification refers to Mr. Spence’s reference to our involvement with the Tourism and Industrial Development Co. (Tidco) and the Hospitality and Tourism Institute whereby graduates of their programme can transfer their credits to the MSVU for recognition towards the Bachelor of Tourism and Hospitality and Management Degree. We strive to be flexible in transfer of credit from any recognised institution to facilitate access to expanded educational opportunities for students.

Those faculty members involved from Mount Saint Vincent University have very much enjoyed our association with our colleagues in Trinidad and look forward to working with our partners both to expand the opportunities for teachers who wish to continue their education at the graduate level, and to bringing the Technology Education Diploma to a successful conclusion. We are confident, and others clearly agree, that the programmes we are offering are exemplary quality. We also look forward to the continuation of these programmes by our Trinidadian partners and to future opportunities to work with the Government and people of Trinidad and Tobago.