OVERSEAS UNIVERSITIES are flocking to Barbados to boost their student rolls.
Universities in Canada, England and the United States took the lion’s share of the booths at the two-day college fair at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, which concludes today.
Students also got the opportunity to hear about Scholastic Achievement Tests (SATs), visa processes and other important areas for international students.
Coordinator of the fair, Beverley Holder, said the response to the 15th edition of the college fair had been the biggest in recent years. Fifty-one booths are set up for students from fifth form to sixth to access the various options.
Holder said the fair was designed to give personnel from the various universities an opportunity to recruit local students.
“We have some very talented students here . . . . The universities are very, very comfortable, they’re very happy with the students that they find in Barbados,” she stated.
The largest response was from the Canadian recruiters and Holder said the universities there were in a better position than the other territories.
“You find the cost factor when it comes to Canadian universities is much less than you would find in Britain, as well as you would find in the States. And they’re some of them that are offering some very good scholarships, scholarships based on their entrance requirements and qualifications, and if (students’) grades are quite good, they can be offered scholarships.”
The University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada has been in Barbados for almost every fair. Director of Undergraduate Recruitment, Andre Jardin, said Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) was one of the “strongest systems you could do anywhere – it’s actually stronger than our own Canadian curriculum”.
He added: “We always get a handful of really good students from Barbados. We are looking for the high-end student out of CAPE, so generally students in the ones and twos range. We tend to get a few each year. I would say, traditionally, there is a real interest in mathematics coming from Barbados for Waterloo, especially in actuarial science. That is arguably the top programme in the world. Now we’re seeing students coming into all areas – engineering, sciences, arts.”
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