Below is Mrs. Street Forrest’s address to the second cohort of the Jamaica Stock Exchange’s e-Learning Campus.
It is indeed my pleasure to add my quota of welcome to you today and to make a few remarks on the programme that you will shortly be embarking on. It seems like just yesterday, but it was just a few short months ago that we welcomed the first group of participants, our first cohort to the start-up of our Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Services Management.
I must admit it was with anything new; we had our anxious moments when we launched out. But here we are today, welcoming the second set of participants into the course. I am sure that even as I speak you are also having your anxious moments too. They will not go away completely but they will get better. As we strive to give you the best programme, ours are still with us, but that is okay as we believe that it is important that we strive to find the best mix of information and persons to serve you and improve the market in which we serve.
At the Exchange, we believe it is important, especially within the Financial Sector for persons who offer advice or provide financial services to keep their education and credentials current. Your presence here today confirms that you also accept that it is risky and possibly even foolish to believe that the same certification that took us in the market place a few years ago will allow us to make the same quality decisions we made then, now. The rapidly changing financial landscape demands continuous professional education and I applaud your decision to take on this challenge. We know there will be days ahead when you will wonder whether you were sane when you signed up for the programme, but during this time I ask you to think of the opportunities that will accrue. Do your own individual SWOT analysis. You all have individual expectations from the programme and you have the opportunity through your communication with your lecturers and others in the programme to realize your individual objectives.
Your orientation here today is special as given the nature of this blended programme that with the exception of the face to face session, examination and hopefully graduation, it is the time when you will meet most of your fellow participants. Take the couple of hours to share a few words.
The course content and delivery will be dynamic, current and rigorous and while grounded in theories, will be heavily complemented by research and real life experience. Our lecturers and tutors wear two hats: of academia and practitioners. They have been hand-picked for the scope of knowledge and experience they have in their respective areas of the field. We have seen with the 1st Cohort that they bent backwards trying to ensure that participants pass the course.
The Post Graduate Diploma is designed for serious participants and in order to foster the best learning outcome we urge you to take advantage of the lecturers, tutors and administrators who are here to ensure that you have a rich experience. To complement your learning experience, it is also necessary to avail yourselves of the many features of the eCampus.
Our eCampus tagline is ‘enabling continuing professional education for the financial services industry’. As you are aware, the Diploma is not yet accredited by the University Council of Jamaica but our objective is that we will have this accreditation in time for your graduation.
I applaud all participants here, whether you are in the equities market or generally in the Financial Services Industry or elsewhere. We have been working with our regulators and other institutions of learning, such as Northern Caribbean University and the Mico University College to provide the best blend of resources and requirements in order to ensure that your return on investment outstrips any other form of investment, even investment in equities market.
We assure you though that while we do all this, the greatest input will be yours. We have observed based on our interaction with the first cohort that the old formula has not changed, whether delivery is via e-learning or the traditional setting, the quality of time put into the programme, is reflected in the results at the end of each unit of the programme.
Again, please accept my congratulations for the bold step that you have taken in furtherance of your career through this continuing professional education course of study. Have fun, build connections with your fellow participants and faculty, transition and grow. I wish you all the very best.
