Dr. Dieumeme Noelliste, the president JTS and CGST.
Ricardo Makyn photoMark Dawes
, Staff Reporter
THE ISLAND'S two major evangelical theological educational institutions are seeking to form themselves into a university.
The Jamaica Theological Seminary (JTS) and the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology (CGST) both of which are located at 14 West Avenue, Kingston 8 are seeking to jointly become a university.
The JTS, which offers undergraduate courses was founded by the Missionary Church Association in Jamaica (MCA) in 1960. The CGST, which offers Master's programmes, is owned by the Caribbean Evangelical Theological Association (CETA). The two institutions, where at least 45 denominations are represented in their student body, are organically linked sharing faculty, classrooms, dormitories and library on the 7.5 acre property.
The JTS offers two degrees a Bachelor's of Arts in Theology and a Bachelor of Arts in General Studies. The CGST offers four Master's degrees the Master's of Divinity; the Master's of Arts in Counselling Psychology; the Master's of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies; and the Master's of Arts in Theological Studies.
POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION
Both the JTS and CGST enjoy the accreditation of the CETA and the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) the State's quality assurance body for post-secondary education. Just last week the UCJ re-accredited the CGST's Master's programmes for another five years.
Dr. Anthony Oliver, the Academic Dean at CGST, pointed out that the pursuit of university status by the two institutions is in keeping with global trends. "The name 'university' carries better currency than 'seminary'. This is especially so as affecting the movements of missionaries and the issuance of work permits. Most persons know what a university is. Not many in this region in particular know what a seminary is, " Dr. Oliver said.
Dr. Dieumeme Noelliste, who is president of both the JTS and CGST, said there were also financial advantages that have influenced the pursuit of university status. He said: "Persons attending universities in Jamaica are able to get full loans. A recent policy of the Student Loan Bureau does not give full loans to our students. In our case our students receive only one-third of the
loan sum they really need. This concerns us. We have taken the matter to the Minister of Education and the Joint Committee for Tertiary Education (JCTE).
As a university, the students would be exposed to a range of disciplines with the proviso that courses would be taught from a distinctly evangelical worldview. "There is no discipline that cannot be approached from a Christian perspective and that would be our unique contribution to the Jamaican educational system," Dr. Noelliste said.
MAJOR CHALLENGE
A major challenge facing the boards of the two institutions is to agree on the modality of governance as university status is being sought. One option is to have a single board comprised of representatives of CETA and the MCA. The other option - the federal approach - which is one preferred by the staff of the both institutions, would mean having different colleges on the campus operating under the banner of the university. JTS and CGST are among the landmarks to the growing popularity of theological studies in Jamaica. "In 1992," says Dr Noelliste, " we scarcely had 100 students at both institutions. Now there's a combined total of about 500 students doing the degree programmes at both schools."
At JTS, which has traditionally had the higher volume of students, there is at this time a greater number of evening students than exists in the day school. This, says, Dr. Oliver, is in keeping with international trends where increasingly persons are pursuing theological studies via evening and part-time modes. He also offered the view that the growing popularity of the evening/part-time option works favourably for some who are otherwise saddled with expenses related to family, children's school fees, and mortgages. "A positive trend is that more and more professionals want to learn theology to be informed so they can be of greater benefit to their respective churches," said Dr. Noelliste.
Women outnumber men at both institutions. At JTS ( which includes its satellites in Spanish Town and Mandeville) women are marginally more than men. There the women at 198, the men at 133. However, for the men this represents a 20 per cent increase over the number enrolled for last year.
But at CGST, there are 106 women enrolled as compared with 46 men. In the case of those pursuing the degree in Counselling Psychology there are eight males and 64 females.
One reason for the preponderance of women at both institutions, says John Keane, Director of Students' Services & Ministries for JTS and CGST - is that a lot of women are pursuing the theological enterprise without seeking necessarily to be pastors or leaders in their denominations. Some do theology, he said, to become better teachers and administrators in their respective Sunday Schools.
The JTS, moreso than CGST, was set up to be a training ground for persons seeking to become pastors. But with changes in the local, regional and global socio-cultural setting, the undergraduate school has changed its outlook to be no longer pastor-centric but ministry-centric. JTS (and CGST) facilitates training for persons working in ministries complimentary to that of the pastor. Accordingly, JTS also offers training in missions and evangelism; guidance and counselling; and education. JTS is a member of the Joint Board of Teacher Education. Many of JTS's graduates work in the school system. For that reason the school offers specialisation's in Religious Education and Guidance and Counselling. Recently, the school added a teacher-education component to its BA General degree.
"The significance of the shift from the pastor-centric approach can be seen in the change of the JTS motto," says JTS Acting Academic Dean, Dr. Dameon Black. "The motto was up to 1995 was 'That I might know Him.. that I might preach Him.' The part that said 'that I might preach him' suggested a pulpit ministry. The new motto is 'That I might know Him - that I might make Him known'."
