University of Belize Scholarships for the Belize Coast Guard
Education is one of the keys to success, and members of the Belize Coast Guard are well on their way to becoming university graduates. Today, the Belize Coast Guard and the University of Belize signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will see five coast guard officers receive scholarships to study at the university in the first phase of the program. While the Belize Coast Guard has made operational training opportunities available to its officers over the years, this M.O.U. presents an opportunity for these officers to further their knowledge in their academic field of choice. News Five’s Paul Lopez was at the Belize Coast Guard Headquarters for the signing of today’s M.O.U. He filed the following report.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
The Belize Coast Guard and the University of Belize today signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will see coast guard officers receive scholarships to study at the university.
Francis Fonseca
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education
“I want to give full credit to Rear Admiral Bennett, the Commandant of the Coast Guard and the President of the University of Belize, Dr Palacio. They have really come together to make this possible. We have supported them along the way, but they did the work of getting the MOU prepared and ready. And, we thought that it was extremely important, extremely important because it serves both the needs of our national university and the Belize Coast Guard. The Belize Coast Guard has the need for human and capacity development in training and education of their officers and the University of Belize has a Marine Science Program that they are trying to develop fully.”
Minister of Education Francis Fonseca met with the first scholarship recipient, Lieutenant Juan Bulum, following today’s ceremony. Commandant of the Belize Coast Guard, Rear Admiral Elton Bennett, spoke with us about the vision behind the MOU.
Rear Admiral Elton Bennett
Rear Admiral Elton Bennett, Commandant, Belize Coast Guard
“My intent here is to bring the Coast Guard up to the level where it can provide the relevant support to country. Our responsibility in nation building goes well beyond operations. We must have the capabilities in house to contribute towards scientific research. We must be able to contribute towards large scale infrastructure development along our coast. So, what we are doing here is really improving the level of education within the Coast Guard, so that in the future the Belize Coast Guard can do more towards supporting those different sectors, supporting the tourism sector and supporting the environment as a matter of fact, because we would have had the expertise in doing so. At this current state in our development we are very operational. We are focused more on those enforcement and tactical operations to support maritime security, but we have the potential to do more.”
President of the University of Belize, Vincent Palacio shared numerous ways in which the MOU will benefit these officers.
Vincent Palacio
Vincent Palacio, President of the University of Belize
“You look at this base, you look at any military organization, you see several things happening. I will give you a couple. The health sector, we have a very dynamic nursing program and every military operation needs nurses and health care providers. Also, military operations need counselors and people to help the mental state of the officers. We offer a very good social works program. From the leadership level, we offer a Masters in Leadership. We offer an MBA in Leadership. So, the leaders could come and participate as well. So, we do quite a bit that these officers can benefit from. We do an engineering program. A lot of engineering takes place. I am told that downstairs that next building they do engineering. So, why can’t we be involved in helping what they do here?”
Commandant Bennett says he wants his officers to see the Belize Coast Guard as an opportunity to serve their country and pursue their education.
Rear Admiral Elton Bennett, Commandant, Belize Coast Guard
“We want to ensure that whenever you join the service you don’t have a full career, spend thirty five years, and leave the service at the same education level you entered. We want to ensure that we look after the individual to give him that platform for him to continue grow in his own capacity, of course serving the Coast Guard and the broader nation. We want to ensure that the Coast Guard remains attractive as a service, for people at different level to see that you can join the Coast Guard and continue your education. It is not a dead end.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.
