Early last week MP Drs. Gracita Arrindell met with the representatives of the University of St. Martin (USM). The meeting focused on the subject of among others the teacher's accreditation program and the process leading up to the recognition of the USM. Tertiary education is very important to our Country, especially when we have hundreds of students leaving secondary school, and want to further their studies locally.
This matter has been in discussion for many years. Since the new constitutional status went into effect on October 10th 2010, there is still clarity and support needed in terms of the extent of having or putting in place a legal system or basis for accreditation and how the acknowledgement process of our tertiary educational institutions took place or if necessary must proceed stated, MP Arrindell.
Sint Maarten has a lot of work to do in terms of reviewing or 'catching up' on laws that have been inherited from the former Netherlands Antilles. In order to further understand this issue and inform myself on this matter a meeting was held with USM President Annelies van den Assem and Acting Head of Academics Glen Yeung of USM.
The next step will be to request a meeting of the Education Committee of Parliament and invite USM officials to provide their views regarding this matter to Parliament, thereafter if corrective measures are needed to act. In other words what steps must be taken in order to formalize the recognition of the USM as the Institute for Tertiary Education on Sint Maarten.
Drs. Gracita Arrindell
United People's (UP) Party, Member of Parliament