In 2004, a regional Task Force on Teacher Education was established with responsibility for and oversight of the professional aspects of teacher educa­tion, as well as for quality assurance, accreditation and accountability in teacher education within the region. Since the accreditation system envisaged would build on the national systems of teacher education and accreditation, it was necessary to obtain documentation on these national systems-the practices and policies in current use in teacher education, and the issues that institutions face.

Since its formation 1987, the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) has not itself undertaken an institutional review of its processes and performance. With its mandate to accredit programmes and, more recently, institutions, the UCJ is expected to come under tighter scrutiny to ensure that its processes not only address the country’s education agenda but that the UCJ maintains its mandate and can be benchmarked against international standards of good practice. This paper reports on a brief survey undertaken among the staff and directors of the UCJ as well as institutions served by the UCJ.