Closing of the MRP (Telecommunications) programme
The University of the West Indies 2008 graduation ceremony saw the graduation of the third and final cohort of The University of the West Indies Master’s degree in Regulation and Policy (MRP) programme. This programme, which was delivered through the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, offered a specialization in telecommunications intended to meet the challenges of managing liberalization of the sector.
After a year of stakeholder consultations and intensive planning, the MRP (Telecommunications) programme was launched in December 2003, with scholarship support from the Cable and Wireless Virtual Academy. It serviced three cohorts of students through a multidisciplinary two-year programme. Because of the nature of the programme both students and staff came from diverse backgrounds and were widely spread geographically. The programme has over seventy graduates from thirty-two developing countries around the world. Teaching staff and project supervisors contributed to the programme, as experts of the highest calibre in their fields, from the Caribbean, Europe, USA and Africa.
The MRP (Telecommunications) emphasis was on practical application to national and regional development, and it was designed to strengthen the capacity of the public and private telecommunication sectors in areas relating to regulation and policy. The programme made a significant contribution to the telecommunications sector, and its graduates currently hold key positions in public and private sector around the globe. As graduates of the MRP (Telecommunications) programme, they have been exposed to practical and current knowledge in a broad spectrum of disciplines, which they are well equipped to use to critically assess appropriate approaches to telecommunications regulation and to guide the development of telecommunications policy. Participants of the programme developed a deep awareness of local, regional and global developments in the field and bring to their professional posts an appreciation of the perspectives of all the main stakeholders in the sector: the regulator, the private sector and the state.
The aims and objectives of the MRP (Telecommunications) programme were developed in support of the overall aims and objectives of UWI, including those of the St. Augustine campus, the Faculty of Engineering and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The overarching mission of UWI is to actively support growth and development of West Indian society. The MRP programme provided high level training and human resource development in telecommunications regulation and policy, an area of vital importance to the advancement of the region.
The MRP programme was developed, in response to regional stakeholder demand, for a finite life to provide support for the first wave of telecommunications reform in the Caribbean. Now that the last cohort has graduated, some of the programme’s courses are being delivered through the Telecommunications Policy and Technology Management Programme at UWI’s School of Business in Jamaica.
Despite its short life span, this small programme has had a considerable impact on the telecommunications sector. Admired for its academic rigour, and by all accounts unmatched student support, the MRP (Telecommunications) programme went far beyond providing an excellent curriculum. The programme created a strong and dynamic international community of like-minded professionals and, through this online community, has become both a regional and international academic network for the sharing of ideas and experiences in the area of telecommunications regulation and policy.
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