by Mervin Matthew
Government Information Service
The Dominica State College in the months ahead is expected to become more focussed on student’s success. That’s according to director of the continuing education department of the college Merrill Matthew. Mr. Matthew made that disclosure during an interview with GIS news this on the 25th of June, 2010.
“What that means, for us, as a management team, is that we are very focused on the success of students so that everything we do, everything we plan, everything we organise has to be connected with student’s success. Therefore, in the upcoming months, we expect that this mission will drive the Dominica State College forward where everything become very student centred and very student focused. Everything is going to be centred on the success of students whether is it training, classroom teaching or curriculum development.”
 Director of Continuing
Education, Dominica State
College, Merrill Matthew
In the meantime, a new programme will be introduced at the Dominica State College in September. The certificate in journalism studies programme will be conducted over a seven week period and is designed to address the need for trained journalists to accurately report news.
“We believe there is very good work already being done in the field of journalism in Dominica, but we recognise that there is a need for improvement in every area: in the area of television and radio production, in the area of writing articles for newspapers et cetera. What we have done is that we have brought an expert in the field of journalism to put together with us and in consultation with other stake holders, a programme that we are confident will take persons up to the level that we would like to see them initially. Not only that, but we believe a number of persons have quite a few skills and knowledge in journalism in Dominica but they do not have any documentation of that level to which they have attained and we believe here is an opportunity for persons within the journalism sector of Dominica to follow a very relevant and meaningful programme; one that is very current in terms of the technology that is available to journalists and at the end of the exercise, have a document from the Dominica State College which certifies their competence and proficiency in journalism studies.”
Mr. Matthew believes the programme will enhance the journalism industry in Dominica.
“There are new techniques that are being used in journalism these days. You look at CNN, you look at BBC World and you see various techniques being used, you see various styles of journalism and we would like to see more of that amongst our professionals in Dominica.”
Mr. Matthew believes that there will be immediate benefits as a result of that programme.
“So, once a journalist or a would be journalist has gone through that experience, we expect that immediately, there will be benefits for the journalism industry and sector in Dominica. The places of business will benefit immediately, the quality of our reporting will be improved immediately, perhaps, too because of the quality of reporting more newspapers will be sold, more people will look at television programmes produced locally, so immediate benefits.” |
