Tuesday, October 9 2012

INTERIM chairman of the planning committee in the Government Assisted Tertiary Education (GATE) program, Dr Michael Dowlath has noted that a proposal was put forward in which students would be required to maintain and prove that they have maintained a good grade point average in order to continue to access funding.

Speaking after a University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) forum on the 2012/2013 Budget at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA) in San Fernando yesterday, Dowlath said the proposal was recommended by the planning committee as a means of eliminating abuse of the programme in which tens of millions of tax-payers’ money has been used for students over the years.

“Students have to maintain their grade point averages. There will be no repeaters. If you fail, then you will have to pay for the courses that you failed if you wish to repeat those courses,” Dowlath said.

Both the University of the West Indies (UWI) and UTT have a minimum grade point average of 1.0 while the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts (COSTATT) has a minimum grade point average of 2.0. A 1.0 grade represents a pass mark of approximately 40 percent.

He noted that as of September 2013, funding for the pre-medical programme at St Georges University in Grenada would be terminated. He however said students currently enrolled for the present semester at St Georges would continue to access GATE funding.