Furman University/University of the West Indies
Country:
Jamaica
Award Date:
1999
Award Amount:
$100,000.00
Cost Share:
$110,097.00
Other Funds:
$408,000.00
Other Partners:
Indusa Global; Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Technology; Montego Bay Free Zone; International Development Consortium (affiliated with the University of Hertfordshire, London); HEART/NTA; InfoTech (Kingston)
The partners collaborated to train a critical mass of software developers to create a sustainable software development industry in Jamaica. In 1999, the Caribbean Institute of Technology (CIT), founded as a result of this partnership, graduated its first class of 41 students trained in computer programming. Indusa Global, a U.S. private-sector partner with a branch in Montego Bay, hired all the graduates, each of whom had completed a 10-month training program. In response to this initial success, subsequent enrollment increased, and the second and third classes produced 81 and 95 graduates, respectively. More than 80 percent of the 122 graduates from the first two classes currently work with Indusa and 11 other information technology companies in Jamaica. Of the 217 total graduates, 100 are women. The partners trained seven instructors and three assistants, allowing them to open two satellite centers in Kingston, each serving 50 students. Thanks to the enthusiastic support of the Jamaican government, the partners were able to expand their activities quickly and opened several more satellite centers in 2002.