Caribbean Institute of Technology Now HCIT - HEART College of Innovation & Technology

Called CIT, the Caribbean Institute of Technology is not only the premier information technology training institution here in Montego Bay, St. James, but that perhaps holds true for the entire Jamaica - and the Caribbean!

And yes, I may be a little biased because I did did some software training there, but their successes speaks volumes as well.

Started in 1999 in the Montego Bay Free Zone, CIT has come a long way towards fulfilling its mandate of providing a pool of skilled software programmers.

The opening of CIT in 1999 marked the culmination of discussions, explorations, forgoing of working relationships, planning, and work in Jamaica, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

In early 1998, discussions began involving the University if the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica; Furman University in Greenville, USA; the HEART Trust/NTA; the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Technology; the Montego Bay Freezone; the International Development of Consortium (affiliated with the University of Hertsfordshire in London), and a software company, Indusa, LLC, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

The programme was strongly geared towards entrepreneurship with graduates urged to start their own business by offering value-added information technology services to private and public sector companies.

In a Jamaica Gleaner article in 2004, the then Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology, Phillip Paulwell, said that more than US$500 million in investments was pumped into the ICT sector since the liberalization of telecommunications industry, and according to him, the Caribbean Institute of Technology has been able to deliver on its mandate.

It was a part of a wider ICT development initiative by the then (PNP) government.

To a great extent, many considers the wider plan a failure, but Caribbean Institute of Technology itself was (and continues to be) a resounding success.

I am a proud member of the second batch of graduates in 2000!
And by the way, the graduation ceremony took place at the illustrious Ritz Carlton Hotel (Now operated by Hyatt)

I did a bit of everything, C and HTML, some C++ and Javascript. I also learnt VB, which by the way, was my favourite! (Special thanks to Professors, Sangeetha & Donna Mitchell)

Many of the students from the subsequent year will remember me. After graduation, I was recruited and was actively assisting the newer students. Unfortunately, I was lured into leaving my preferred IT field back to accounting :-(

CIT had some initial hiccups though; It took some time for firms in the sector to accept the value of its graduates and so many of my counterparts- the earlier students, had great difficulty getting jobs- despite the expansion of the, industry.

The Institute became innovative and in 2002 they established its Development Centre, employing graduates to write software packages for companies in the hotel and tourism sector, construction industry and schools.

It is this development center that has created their new website.

Today the institution offers a wide range of ICT programes; from certificate and diploma courses to undergraduate degrees and postgraduate diploma programs.

These courses include, Networking, Network Security, Software Design and Development, Geographical Information Systems as well as special CISCO training programs.

To learn more about their current training programs, entry requirement and other general information, visit the new website.

[Orginally posted: June. 10. 2009]
[Edited: Sept. 08. 2015]

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References:

• www.hcit.edu.jm/
  
• http://www.caribbeantech.org/index.html
• http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20040623/business/business3.html
• http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html
  /20021230T210000-0500_37374_OBS_CIT_PROGRAMME_CONTINUES_AT_MOBAY
  __EXED_IN_JANUARY.asp
• http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/archive
  /20001113T000000-0500_3043_OBS_MOSSEL_PROMISES_______JOBS.asp
• http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20010312/lead/lead3.html
• http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070114/news/news7.html

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