UTech joins forces with Edna Manley College

Marcia Rowe, Gleaner Writer

The Old Hope Road-based University of Technology (UTech) is the only university in the Caribbean with a sculpture park.

And now it has joined forces with The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMC) to lengthen its strides in the arts.

According to Professor Errol Morrison, president of UTech, and Pat Ramsay, director of the UTech Cultural Centre and chairman of The Arts Foundation of Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, the discussions between both institutions have been on, in a variety of areas. Some plans have already been put in practice while others are at the discussion stages.

Ramsay is one of the driving forces behind the collaborative effort between the two institutions.

Cultural programme

Some time around the middle of this decade, she introduced the cultural programme to UTech.

"We are going to soften their [UTech] hard lines, which we have started doing by having the only sculpture park in the Caribbean," Ramsay said, proudly sharing that it was her idea, her dream.

The director of UTech Cultural Centre and chairman of EMC said that UTech wanted to form a tight collaboration with the institution.

Among the benefits from such a partnership is the building of UTech's Caribbean Culture Centre, which the institution wants to share with the EMC, as well as eventually introducing a degree programme in the arts that she hopes will be done on a collaborative basis as well.

Morrison further explained, "EMC is a sister college. It is in the tertiary arena. We have been looking at ways in which we can have stronger collaborations at the tertiary-education level. Andwe have been working with the principal at EMC and his colleagues on how we can come together in creating graduate programmes. In terms of the performing arts, we were looking at how we can utilise our sculpture park ... as a kind of setting into which we can bring the Edna Manley students and provide infrastructure for them."

This is more directed towards those students studying theatre. However, he hastened to say that Ramsay had been looking at a number of ways in which additional collaboration can take place.

For the last two years, UTech has been running a summer programme for young students and they have brought the EMC students over to assist in the various programmes being offered.

Tertiary network

Another area that seemed to be a work in progress is what is seen as the university network - the tertiary network. EMC was one of the colleges to come on board.

Morrison explained how it works. "While their students are focusing on the arts, we can assist them with some of the academic underpinning, some of the humanities, the languages, etc. We thought that we could collaborate with them in that way."

Both institutions have been working hand in hand on how to develop some of the programmes.

Morrison, who spoke with The Gleaner at a reception hosted by the British High Commission for Sir Willard White, disclosed that UTech has also spent some time looking at a music centre in the west.

"We have had discussions with Chris Blackwell on how we could look at an institute of music, especially popular music, and how we could make this a centre of learning as well as one of entertainment that could add to the whole tourism product."