Sabrina Gordon, Business Reporter

The University College of the Caribbean (UCC) is expanding its campus in New Kingston and has acquired lands on Half-Way Tree Road to construct another campus.

Executive chairman of the private college, Winston Adams, says he plans to finalise the projects, in phases, within five years.

Adams says he is investing to meet growing demand for tertiary training.

"A significant part of the problem faced is that demand is rapidly outstripping capacity," said Adams.

"The traditional university system and other existing tertiary learning institutions have not been able to cope with the extraordinary growth in demand," he said.

The demand, he says, is rising "in the midst of an information and knowledge revolution".

The project's first phase involves the upgrading and expansion of the Worthington Terrace, New Kingston, campus' northern wing.

The eastern block will be done in the second phase.

The two-phase expansion, with an initial projected maximum capital outlay of $200 million, will see the creation of an additional 28,000 square feet of space to include a business library, technology centre, lecture halls and administrative and faculty offices over a two-year period.

The UCC's main campus is at Worthington Avenue, but it also has satellite campuses and offices at four other locations in Kingston, and one each in Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Mandeville and Westmoreland.

A UCC centre is scheduled to open in May Pen, Clarendon, this month.

Development of the new campus on Half-Way Tree Road will commence in two years, but the timing is subject to the injection of additional financing from one of the UCC's main partners, Florida International University, as well as the UCC Foundation and local corporate sponsors.

The site is adjacent to FirstCaribbean International Bank, and across the road from the Holy Cross Church.

The property is about 1.5 acres in size, he said, and was purchased some two years ago for just under $50 million.

The work under way at Worthington will add two new levels to each building on the compound.

"Doubling the capacity would allow the UCC to realise reduced costs by eliminating the need for the leasing of one or two of its existing five locations in Kingston," said Adams.

"Larger, more comfortable campuses in Kingston will appeal to a larger number of students and working professionals and an increase in the traditional full-time and early morning programmes will be achieved," he said.

The UCC turns five this year. The college was formed back in 2004 out of a merger of IMP and IMS.

As part of its financing strategy in its expansion efforts, Adams said that the UCC had invited several companies to partner with the private college.

As incentive for sponsorship in the project, the university has offered naming rights and logos of various building and exclusive signage opportunities valued at $400,000 per year at its locations.

Total student enrolment at the UCC stands at approximately 5,500, a figure which Adams will be seeking to grow by 20 per cent annually over the next five years, "inclusive of distance-education students in Jamaica and the Caribbean".

Partners

The principal partners in the UCC are Winston Adams and his wife, Geraldine, who is the chief executive officer. Oversight is provided by a nine-member board of directors.

The college is staffed by about 260 adjunct faculty members and 180 full-time administrative staff across all locations.

The UCC currently offers a a plethora of programmes at the certificate, diploma, associate, bachelor and graduate levels.

During its next five-year cycle, Adams plans to set up campuses in Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and the eastern Caribbean.

An initial formal study and field work have already been completed in these areas, he said.

"The institution will continue to seek to expand its programmes also to regional overseas markets. The UCC will be recruiting other Caribbean students into its distance-education programmes and offering select programmes of study in partnership with other local tertiary level institutions in the region," Adams said.

The UCC's operating budget for the last few years has run into hundreds of millions of dollars per year, Adams said, with return on equity averaging about 30 per cent annualised.

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com