The University of the West Indies, (UWI) Mona will begin offering a programme of study leading to a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in Electronics Engineering effective September 2009. The programme will be offered through the Electronics Unit of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences at Mona.

Additional programmes including Renewable Energy, Energy Management & Engineering and Biomedical Engineering are expected to come on stream in 2010.  Preparation of Jamaican students for advanced placement in traditional engineering programmes, i.e. Power Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering will be also facilitated at the Mona Campus.

The new programmes are being introduced as part of a decision to expand The UWI’s engineering programmes to other UWI Campuses starting with the Mona Campus in Jamaica  based on an increased demand for an engineering presence at Mona. The expansion follows on discussions with the Jamaican Institute of Engineers, the conduct of a needs survey and the University’s examination of  the Government of Jamaica’s April 2009 document on critical skills needs in the public sector. This analysis led to the conclusion that apart from the need for traditional engineering areas such as Civil Engineering and Electronics Engineering, there is also a demand for emerging disciplines such as Biomedical Engineering, Environmental Engineering and Energy Engineering which are currently underserved.

The University has noted with deep concern the declining numbers of Jamaicans enrolled in the engineering programme at its St Augustine Campus in Trinidad & Tobago. In 2007/2008 the undergraduate enrolment at the Faculty of Engineering was 1,419 with only 53 of these being Jamaican students. Only 12 new Jamaican students were registered in 2007. This suggests that St Augustine is not seen as an effective option for Jamaican students seeking tertiary engineering education.

The Mona Campus already has a foundation for supporting quality programmes in engineering. This includes at least three PhD qualified electronic engineers on staff in its Physics Department which will be restructured to provide the space for running a quality programme in engineering. UWI, Mona also has a dedicated Electronics Unit that has served the country for years, and an Energy Conservation Unit which has accumulated considerable expertise in energy conservation technologies. The Campus also has a Chemical Engineering potential in the Department of Chemistry.