Barbados is being challenged to do more to tap the multibillion-dollar global tuition market for foreign students, especially those seeking to learn English.
Sheena Alleyne, a senior official of local private company, The Student Centre, and executive director of the Barbados Coalition of Service Industries (BCSI), Lisa Cummins, said yesterday there were big bucks to be made and called for concerted effort to exploit the opportunities.
During a seminar on Education As Big Business organised by the BCSI at its Harbour Industrial Park office, Alleyne said even a small group of foreign students could significantly affect the local economy by spending millions of dollars over a few years in tuition fees, accommodation, medical bills and other expenses.
There were opportunities for ground and air transport, health care, banking, telecommunications, insurance, entertainment and other services to make money from such students coming to Barbados to study at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Barbados Community College (BCC) and other institutions of learning, she pointed out. (TY)
