230 Students Awarded GOJ STEM Scholarships at Handover Ceremony Dr. The Hon. Nigel Clarke (2nd right), Minister of Finance and the Public Service leads the happy smiles and gestures at the STEM backdrop mounted at the handover ceremony for Government of Jamaica STEM scholarships to students of the University of Technology, Jamaica on September 21, 2023 at the University's Papine Campus. Joining in the happy moment (from left) are Dante Shirley, STEM Scholarship recipient, Hon. Marsha Smith, State Minister, Ministry of Education and Youth, Jahmelia Campbell, STEM scholarship recipient, Ms. Nickeisha Walsh, Executive Director, Students' Loan Bureau and Dr. Kevin Brown, President, University of Technology, Jamaica. Speaking at the handover ceremony Dr. The Hon. Nigel Clarke, Minister of Finance and the Public Service noted that, “this is the beginning of the fulfilment of a vision to transform the landscape of Jamaica.” Minister Clarke observed that the STEM scholarships are advantageous not only to the students but also to Jamaica, underscoring that “development is fuelled by people and the kind of development that we see on the horizon will require Jamaica to upgrade its cadre of technical skill and engineering talent.” Congratulating the students, Dr. Clarke remarked that, “we believe in you, we believe in UTech, that you can make it happen. 10 9 April- September 2023 | VOICES Bi- Monthly Magazine of the University of Technology, Jamaica Continued on page 10 he first cohort of 230 new students of the University of Technology, Jamaica’s Faculty of Engineering and Computing (FENC) who were selected as the first of 1,000 students to receive the Government of Jamaica’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Scholarship, were recognized at a special handover ceremony on September 21, 2023, at the University’s Papine Campus. The recipients who began studies at the start of the new 2023-2024 academic year, will benefit from fully funded tuition for the duration of their respective course of study from among the 13 STEM disciplines offered by the Faculty’s School of Engineering and the School of Computing and Information Technology. All we have to do is to produce sufficient quantities of science, technology and engineering talent, and the rest will follow,” the Minister said to applause from the large gathering of scholarship recipients, their parents, and members of leadership from the three partnering institutions in attendance. He further encouraged students, “we are investing in you with the provision of full tuition scholarships and the pursuit of your STEM education here at UTech so that you can realize your God given potential and in so doing contribute to the development of your country.... and we have every confidence that the future that you represent will be better than Jamaica is today.” T
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDQ5NzI=