UTech students awarded 60th anniversary scholarships

President of the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech), Professor Stephen Vasciannie, on Friday presented $6 million in scholarships to 60 outstanding undergraduate students under the University of Technology, Jamaica 60th Anniversary Award scholarship programme as part of the institution’s 60th anniversary celebrations.

In a ceremony held at the university’s Papine campus, the scholarships, each valued at $100,000, were presented to the academic high achievers selected from the university’s three colleges and five faculties. The scholarships were awarded for one year only and were based on academic performance in the first semester of the 2018-19 academic year.

Each academic unit, with the exception of the Faculty of Law, was asked to identify the top eight students on the basis of the grade point averages (GPA) of 3.5 and above since the start of the 2018-19 academic year, which began last August. In the case of the law faculty, the top four students were awarded. The scholarship awardees were also required to be pursuing at least nine credits in the semester to be eligible for the award.

In offering special congratulations to all the awardees, Vasciannie said: “Today’s scholarships are based solely on academic merit, and they represent the university’s recognition of your hard work, commitment and dedication to learning.”

Acknowledging that pursuing tertiary education “is not an easy road”, with myriad challenges such as financial and work/study commitments, Vasciannie applauded the high achievers for making the special effort in pursuing and achieving academic excellence.

Student Rayion Sawyers, who is pursuing the BSc degree in electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and Computing and who attained a perfect GPA of 4.0, responded on behalf of the awardees. He conveyed profound gratitude to Vasciannie, who conceptualised the 60th Anniversary Scholarship Award. He expressed that the university’s support has further propelled his personal goal of becoming a certified professional engineer and will also serve to advance the aspirations of his fellow awardees.

The vote of thanks was moved by Professor Colin Gyles, deputy president, UTech, while Dr Kamilah Hylton, dean of the Faculty of Science and Sport, was the master of ceremonies. Dr Hylton, in congratulating all 60 awardees, pointed out that they represent the top .5 per cent of the student body of approximately 11,500 students.