Capacity building as the main driver of success

ON BEHALF of the INQAAHE Board of Directors, I am honoured to extend a congratulatory message on the occasion of the 12th Annual Quality Assurance in Tertiary Education Week proudly organised by the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ).

The theme of the event, ‘Enhancing and Sustaining a Quality Culture: Preparing for Institutional Accreditation’, with straightforward key objectives, capitalises on the importance the UCJ attaches to the capacity building of the Jamaican tertiary education system. Through training UCJ assessors and staff, delivering workshops for and providing professional advice to tertiary education institutions, the UCJ manifests its dedication to sustainable development of the system through enhancing human resource capacity - the ultimate asset for ensuring credibility, relevance and efficiency of the tertiary system nationally and internationally.

If there were three elements that need to be capitalised on in a successful system, I would list them as follows: human capital, human capital, and, again, human capital. Throughout my extensive international experience, I have seen strong systems fail and poor systems proliferate because of a simple human factor and the extent of importance the systems attach to enhance and sustain it.

As president of INQAAHE, I take this opportunity to extend my highest commendations for the admirable job done by the UCJ to enhance and sustain a quality culture in the Jamaican tertiary education sector, and wish an absolute success with this noble mission. SUSANNA KARAKHANYAN, PHD INQAAHE VII President