Giving males the extra push
Published:Thursday | May 5, 2011 | 12:00 AM
- Mico's pre-university programme aims to pull more men into education
Keisha Hill, Gleaner Writer
The Mico University College has been exploring new strategies to encourage more males to enrol in higher education.
Research has demonstrated that to date, men's needs in Jamaica have not been adequately taken into consideration.
Results from the National Centre for Youth Development Youth's Programmatic Inventory Survey indicate that youth-serving programmes tend to serve more young women than men, with young women representing approximately two-thirds of all beneficiaries of these types of organisations.
With the pressing need to address the circumstances and behaviour of adolescent males, the Pre-University Men's Programme (PUMP) was introduced by The Mico University College in an effort to attract males who do not readily qualify for the four-year degree programme.
This one-year day programme prepares students for fundamental entry into a degree programme of choice, as well as the teaching profession. Candidates should possess at least three CSEC or GCE O'Level passes, including English language and where applicable, the requisite portfolio.
According to Denver Holt, principal lecturer in the Department of Language, Literacy and Literature and coordinator of PUMP, the primary objective of the programme is to get more men into education.
"We want to take them off the streets and give them a reason for being. For example, a man who comes out of an inner-city community, through this programme finds himself in mainstream education. He gets back into the community and he shows others a different way of life and they too begin to understand that they have a place in society," Holt said.
The programme is in its third year and the University College has already graduated two cohorts.
Twenty-one students registered for the first year of the programme, and 19 students in the second and third years, respectively. Twenty students graduated from the first year of programme and 18 from the second year. Those who have graduated are in their second year of the four-year university degree programme.
To become eligible for the PUMP, all candidates are auditioned where applicable and interviewed before a selected panel of personnel from The Mico University College. Once the school's criteria are met, the students are then admitted into the programme, after which the students take courses that are deliberately designed to meet the needs of the University College.
"They are given math and English, and they choose an area of specialisation, which is then converted into a major for their degree. For example, if they specialise physical education, industrial technology, or the sciences, they convert it in their second year, which is the first year of the four-year programme into a major.
During the first year, they are able to make up their minds that this is something they really want for the future," Holt said.
Holt said one of the inhibitors to many of these males climbing the academic ladder is the lack of finances. He said based on his informal research, many of those in the PUMP are coming from communities that do not encourage educational development and little or no resources are allocated for this process.
"Finance is one of the biggest difficulties that they face. Many of these guys are dirt poor. The men on campus have less than $1,000 per month to spend," Holt said.