The new ‘stars’ of UTech Jamaica
ALMOST EVERYONE is familiar with the sporting prowess of the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech, Ja) and its student athletes. From double gold Olympic medallist Elaine Thompson to the iconic ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce, the list is extensive.
This time around, UTech is making additional waves with its new programme offerings.
Animation UTech is offering a bachelor of science degree in animation production and development. The newest of the university’s course offerings will give students knowledge in the areas of:
Pre-production (e.g., writing for print/web/radio/screen, creative writing, work-flow customization, event coverage planning, etc)
Production (public speech, photography, videography, digital audio, web design, animation, etc)
Post-production (non-linear video editing, digital image editing, sound and visual effects, etc) and much more!
The animation industry is estimated to be worth a whooping US$80 billion.
IIIFaculty of Law According to lecturer Raun Brown, the six-year-old law programme is making headlines at the prestigious Norman Manley Law School. Brown says UTech students rank among the highest as it relates to the entry exam and outperform students coming from the University of London, among others. He added that UTech’s law offerings are quite unique when compared to other universities’ offerings. Students can study at their own leisure and pace by registering for a fulltime or part-time course of study, which comes in handy for working professionals. Special law courses are available such as entertainment law, sports law and intellectual property law, which are not offered by any other university in Jamaica.
Faculty of Science and Sports While not a new faculty, DonnaMarie Newby, biology lecturer and programme director for science education, says the course is popular among the school’s athletes. When asked why science was paired with sports under the same umbrella, Newby stated that “sports is a science. Persons will have to know the body and how it operates in order to know the limitations it has, which comes in handy if someone is looking to be a coach or sports manager”. She added that students get the option to do a double major in all three sciences, which is not something that is offered by other universities.
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Another popular course of study falls under the Faculty of Education and Liberal Studies, where students get the chance to enter into a degree programme that can offer them career options as a talk-show host, press agent, publicity manager, creative director, and so on.
APPLICATION Kerry-Ann White, assistant registrar, student recruitment, says the university is committed to creating “excellence through knowledge”. With an expected increase in course registrations, students were urged to apply online for the earlybird registration period, which began on October 3, 2016. Earlybird applications, which are done online, are free of cost. After submitting an online application, students had 10 working days to submit supporting documents, such as birth certification, CSEC results, identification card, etc. Students were asked to have active email addresses as that would be the main communication tool used by the university.
There is also the university’s app, ‘UTech Jamaica’, from the Google Play Store, that allows students access to “a suite of sub-apps which provide users with access to content on the university’s website, including courses of study, the student handbook, news, events, alumni information, the students’ portal, the campus map, etc”.