CXC restructures - New business unit in search of branding partners
Published:Sunday | October 10, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Avia Collinder, Business Writer
The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), funded by Caribbean governments, donors, and fees, is reorganising to improve strategic planning, business development, and marketing.
Guy Hewitt, CXC director of corporate strategy in St Michaels, Barbados, said Thursday that new hires were now in place to head three new functional areas: corporate services, examinations services, and business services.
"The assignment of roles in new structures has been done, but the structures themselves are being deve-loped," said Hewitt.
Ongoing since 2009, Hewitt said the restructuring's "strategic vision is one of transformation. Changes will continue and there is no set time when we can say it might be completed".
No budget was given for the overhaul, which includes the establishment of a designated corporate strategy and business development unit (CSBD), established for the purpose of providing focus in the areas of strategic planning, business development, and marketing.
According to information provided by the organisation, the objectives of this unit include the leveraging of CXC's intellectual property, developing new products and services, and fund-raising.
CXC, in fulfilment of some of these objectives, has developed seve-ral strategic partnerships.
They include an agreement with Ian Randle Publishers for the production of the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exami-nation (CAPE) syllabuses and past papers, a signed a contract with Nelson Thornes Publishers for the production of Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC) resource materials, and the redesign and repackaging of the existing CSEC and CAPE Study Guides.
The CCSLC was introduced in 2007 to test school leavers' aptitude in areas such as arithmetic and critical thinking.
CXC is also looking into the creation of an independent or open school, as currently, less than half of all secondary school students in the region complete five or more CSEC subjects - the standard for entry-level employment and for matriculation into tertiary schools.
The project is being pursued with the Commonwealth of Learning and NotesMaster, an existing free learning platform.
Memorandum of Understanding
CXC has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Pearson Education and its subsidiary, Edexcel, towards strengthening the vocational education offerings within the region.
Edexcel, a United Kingdom company, is one of England, Wales and Northern Ireland's five main examination boards. It is wholly owned by the private-sector Pearson Plc, a UK-based media and publishing conglomerate.
Edexcel offers vocational qualifications which cut across a number of key employment sectors and which are supported by essential skills for employment and digital applications.
Meanwhile, the CSBD unit is pursuing the development of the CXC brand, and exploring partnerships with established suppliers to provide bulk corporate memorabilia - including shirts, bags, caps, key rings, and pens - for marketing and promotional purposes.
As part of its brand-awareness drive, CXC will be launching a schools' yearbook project, stylised for all schools in all territories, to record, highlight, and commemorate the past school year.
The CSBD unit is also leading the project for construction of the permanent headquarters for CXC.
The directorate also leads on CXC's involvement in CARICOM agency matters, including the establishment of a regional accreditation agency, a regional mechanism to arbitrate staff disputes, the pursuit of greater consistency of privileges and immunities for CARICOM agencies, and the coordination of a human resources strategy for staff in these agencies.
The Caribbean Examinations Council was established in 1972 by an agreement among 15 English- speaking Commonwealth Caribbean countries and territories.
The members are Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, The British Virgin Islands, The Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Mont-serrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and The Turks and Caicos Islands.
It has its headquarters in Barbados.
The first CXC examinations were held in 1979. CAPE was introduced in 1998, and its associate degree programme was added in 2005.