Keisha Hill, Gleaner Writer

Perry G. Christie centre, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas being adorned with Regalia by Avery Thompson (left), University Registrar and Beverly Cameron, Acting Vice President, Academic Administration as he received a Honorable Degree from the Northern Caribbean University(NCU) at their eight-third Commencement Exercise at the University on sunday. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

MANDEVILLE, Manchester:

Jamaica could be losing more tertiary trained graduates to foreign countries, thereby adding to the brain drain.

Addressing the 83rd graduation of the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) yesterday, Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Perry Christie said his country was in need of qualified persons to fill positions in nursing, information science and theology.

And according to Mr. Christie, his government is eying the Caribbean to fill the shortfall.

"Our future lies in expanding and building on what we have," he told a batch of the graduating class comprising 1,028 pupils, adding that they should continue to embrace their Caribbean identity.

"As Caribbean countries, we have been viewed as places for extraction; however, we have constructed institutions of worth and endurance that still have not been unravelled by the powers of first world countries," he said.

In the recent years, there have been mounting concerns that Jamaica has been losing the benefits of many tertiary students.

According to a 2003 United Nations Development Programme report, the social returns on investments on education in Jamaica was 12.3 per cent, with the country losing approximately US$20 million in potential earnings each year, because of the number of tertiary professionals who migrate.

Corporate entities

At the same time, Mr. Christie says Caribbean academic institu-tions must begin to work with corporate entities to plan general facilitation and to retain nationals through training programmes in hospitality, marine science and biology.

Earlier, Opposition Leader, Bruce Golding told another batch of graduates, he was worried Jamaica has not been able to retain many of its brightest minds.

"It is not that we are producing too many graduates. It is that our economy has not expanded to be able to absorb and fully utilise them," he said.

Mr. Golding charged that persons with responsibility for public policy must change this, but he says there must be a fundamental shift in the country's development strategy.

"We are 90 minutes away from the richest market in the world yet we remain largely isolated from the benefits of that market," he said.