Office of the Deputy Principal

In his welcome message, the Principal reminded us that: “We are all on the journey of lifelong learning.” As you embark on this stage of your journey as a student at the Barbados Community College (BCC), one of my major concerns as Deputy Principal will be assuring the quality of the learning experiences and environment to which you are exposed inside and outside of the classroom, face-to-face or at a distance.

Your choice of learning environment, the BCC, is a recognised educational institution. As such, it confers its own degrees, diplomas and certificates, and develops, delivers and evaluates its own programmes of study. Therefore, procedures and mechanisms have been put in place to establish and maintain desirable standards and assure quality. Quality assurance relates to the achievement of educational programme standards established by an institution, a professional organisation, government, or standard-setting body. In other words, it provides users of the education system with a guarantee that the institution, its programmes and courses, and its graduates meet certain local, regional and international benchmarks.

Quality assurance procedures and mechanisms are the means whereby the achievement of these standards is consistently monitored and/or measured. At the BCC, a systematic approach to curriculum design and review, internal and external moderation of our major assessment practices and second marking of your examination scripts are some examples of these procedures and mechanisms carried out by your course tutors and other experts.

At the BCC, our manual of procedures and regulations specially prepared for faculty provides a point of reference for academic assessment and evaluation. However, in his welcome message, the Principal also advised that you should develop a culture of self- reliance and self-regulation. If you accept this responsibility, then you, the student, must also play an active part in monitoring and maintaining standards as you journey through the college. If you find yourself falling by the wayside, pick yourself up, ask for help if you need it, and continue this worthwhile journey.

Enjoy this stage of your life-long learning, strive for excellence in all your experiences, and continue to grow along the way.

Sylvia L. Hackett, Ph.D