Page 24 - Layout 1

Education
Continued from page 10
Kingston University and St George’s University of London.
UniGib will have positive knock-on effects for the whole community, Licudi believed. “This is not an isolated, stand-alone institution. There will be benefits, whether its
students coming in and spending money in the economy – the students for a Language Centre – or students coming with their family for graduation, that clearly generate business.”
UniGib’s Vice-Chancellor is 47 years old Professor Daniella Tilbury, who previously was a senior manager at the University
Constant industry of Gloucestershire, one of seven such estab-
interaction: Gilbert Licudi, UK, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, South
Europe and North Africa. Dr Darren Fa, formerly Gibraltar
Museum’s Director of Education, is a scientist and teacher who worked exclusively on proposals for the model, the courses and how UniGib could be achieved, and is now UniGib’s Director of Academic Programmes and Research.
Staying at the top
Gibraltar provides world-class services in a number of business areas, “but there is a lot of competition out there and it is important that Gibraltar professionals stay at the top of their game, in terms of the services that are provided; the university will play a role in that”, Licudi said.
“There will be constant interaction with industry on professional courses to meet Gibraltar’s needs; for example, there will be specific and high quality training for the hospitality industry”, the Minister declared.
When Prof Tilbury was appointed in March, she felt “confident that we can build academic and research excellence over a short period”, but Minister Licudi later noted: “The one thing everyone has emphasised is ‘be
ambitious, but not over ambitious’ at the beginning. Clearly we don’t want to expect a token university, we want to establish a full university, but.... these things take many, many years to consolidate, to develop, to build up”.
Jose Julio (JJ) Pisharello, managing partner of EY Gibraltar, part of the global specialist tax assurance and advisory firm, is chairman of UniGib’s Board of Governors.
Peter Montegriffo, also on the gover- nance Board, told Gibraltar International: “I hope the new higher education establishment will tackle the serious and difficult issues sur- rounding its development with both realism and honesty – I am expecting to see solid, but nonetheless prudent, progress.”
Other new universities could expect a longer –more generous - lead-in time, as was the case with the Seychelles, for example, which took several years to come about, Montegriffo said, adding: “Whilst university managers will be seeking external funding opportunities, “I hope they don’t fall into the trap of becoming a commodity, as has been the case with some Caribbean institutions”.
Ray Spencer
lishments she has been associated with in the Education Minister Africa and Spain.
A well-regarded senior academic with over 25 years experience in higher education, she advised the government on the university project, having similarly assessed strategic higher education initiatives for government agencies in Australia, New Zealand, China,
Shouldn’t we make
transparency an
argument?
Create confidence by delivering information and advice you can trust. This makes us and our partners strong, in our work, every day.
EY Gibraltar +350 200 13200 info@gi.ey.com
24
Gibraltar International
www.gibraltarinternational.com