S.J.C. expands offerings to meet student needs

Classes might be winding down for summer holidays but this month, Saint John’s College has officially launched its School of Professional Studies. Under the theme, “Our Mission … Your Success”, coordinators tell News Five that the new school is an amalgamation of S.J.C.’s evening division, the Loyola Institute for Ministry Extension, the Continuous Professional Development programme for teachers and public courses offered by the art centre. Branching out from the norms of business and general studies, the new curriculum features associate degree and certificate programmes in early childhood development, hospitality and tourism management, tropical ecology and management information systems. According to Dianne Lindo, a member of the school’s Advisory Council, the school is all about students’ needs.

Dianne Lindo, Advisory Council, S.J.C.
?Saint John?s College does have a tradition of excellence that we are building on. Although we know we have been doing good work, we are working hard on being more responsive to the needs of the population. Not everybody wants to do an associate degree and go on immediately to higher studies. Some want an associate degree that they can use immediately in their field. So that?s one person we are trying to attract. There are also people who are not being served. And actually that is the core of S.J.C.?s mission, serving where the need is the greatest. There are people who are not being served by the programs we offer because of the lack of flexibility for people who work. Our evening programmes so far that have been running for the past two decades have always had large numbers of people who need the fact that we go in the evenings from five thirty to eight thirty. With the School of Professional Studies, with the addition of the Saturday programs, we can reach more people.?

According to Lindo, plans are in the pipeline to eventually offer online associate degree programmes through the School of Professional Studies.