CMI honours three CSA Past Presidents

       … at 28th graduation ceremony       

2010, January 27: The service to regional shipping of three CSA Past Presidents, David Harding, Corah Ann Robertson-Sylvester and the Immediate Past President, Fernando Rivera, was acknowledged and applauded at the 28th annual graduation ceremony of the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI), held in Kingston, recently.

The graduation ceremony, held on November 12 last, was a celebration of progress and success.

Among those in attendance were the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Orette Bruce Golding and the Minster with portfolio responsibility for the Institute, Michael Henry.

CSA Past President David Harding

The graduands included the first cohort of Bachelor of Science degree students in Port Management and Logistics and Supply Chain Management and the Bachelors of Engineering in Industrial Systems. In total, 148 eligible graduands marched including candidates in the Diploma in International Shipping and Logistics and Associate of Applied Science Degree programmes.

One of the programmes regarded as “fundamental” in the CMI curriculum is the Industrial Systems Operations and Maintenance (ISOM) programme. This programme produces an engineer capable of handling different aspects of this discipline.

CSA Past President Corah Ann Robertson-Sylvester

The Blue Ocean Strategy, the basic philosophy that drives the entire operations, vision and mission of the CMI, is demonstrated in the scope and depth of the Institute’s strategic alliances with so-called ‘Ivy League’ institutions within and outside of the maritime sector, worldwide. The Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) that give a framework to these alliances are bringing the expected results.

The Institute has a high placement record with 90% of its Bachelor of Science Degree and Bachelor of Engineering students gainfully employed or pursuing higher studies. And, 100% of the students who successfully completed the Officer in Charge of Watch programmes are on contract at sea or awaiting commencement of their sea service

CSA Past President Fernando Rivera

Executive Director, Fritz Pinnock , in his address to the graduation ceremony, said the CMI is “… a testament of an agile, tertiary institution committed to serving the needs of the industry.”

According to the CMI Executive Director, CMI stands ready to provide total crew.

The Bachelors degree in Security Management has been quite successful, he said, with 36 participants in the programme. Students include personnel from the Jamaica Defence Force, Jamaica Combined Police force and a number of large private security companies. In delivering this programme, the CMI collaborates with Kingston Wharves Ltd and its subsidiary, Security Administrators Limited (SAL). Over 83% of them are gainfully employed, he said.

Last year, despite the recession, the CMI recorded one hundred per cent placement of its Phase II seafaring cadets and officers. Cadets are joining ships from all five continents – as far as Australia, Dubai, China among others. CMI is now a global brand,” Mr. Pinnock declared.

CMI ACHIEVEMENTS

Among its ‘special achievements’, the CMI Executive Director listed the following:

* EXMAR - four scholarships have been awarded to top cadets from the 2007/2008 batch currently pursuing Phase 3. These persons will take up guaranteed employment at the end of their course in December 2009.

* Four scholarships from the Canadian government (two Grenadians at CMI; two CMI students (Alesha Foster and Candice Williams) in Canada at the Memorial University of Newfoundland). The scholarships are valued at CAD20,000 each.

* The Caribbean Shipping Association Monica Silvera Scholarship: awarded to a Grenadian student (Wallace Collins) valued at USD26,000, for the Master of Science degree in Logistics & Supply Chain management (regional programme based in Barbados) where we will have other students from Suriname, Guyana, Antigua, Anguilla, Dominica, and the British Virgin Islands, among others.

* Donation of three classrooms, valued at over JAD12 million, by ZIM/Kingston Logistics Centre. The new classroom block will be named in their honour.

* Donation of JAD3 million by Musson Jamaica Limited towards CMI entrance and security upgrade.

* Airports Authority of Jamaica – undertaking the beautification project at the entrance to the CMI

* Luxury Yacht Group will be donating life rafts and equipment

* New break-through with cadet berths – Rickmers; Seaboard Marine; Juemmetor & Hafentor (Harold Kropp)

Other developments mentioned by Mr. Pinnock include a MOU with Nova Scotia Community College for the establishment of a CMI School of Fisheries and Marine Research. Pending, he said, was the signing of an MOU with the Peruvian Merchant Marine Academy which would provide for two CMI students to go to Peru during the year ahead on a full scholarship.

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