The programme now has a cohort group of 14 students who possess all the attributes that are sought by the best PhD programmes worldwide.

Several of these students are already quite skilled in the classroom and in stimulating the minds of university students.  The programme will reinforce these skills and complete their scholarly development by providing rigorous preparation for academic life in a collaboratively creative environment.

Such training will assist students to assimilate the current state of information systems research in order to identify knowledge gaps for investigation and interpretation, and ultimately provide answers to novel and interesting IS questions.

The main goal of the programme is to supply a cadre of academics capable of:

Undertaking scholarly research in order to prescribe effective solutions to IS problems in the English-speaking Caribbean.

Helping UWI increase its supply of IS students to perform competently as IT solution providers in the business community.

Collaborating with the private and public sectors to advance Jamaica's aspirations of creating economic value through the effective application of IT.

Contributing to the development of the human capital required to enable Jamaica's eventual participation in the supply of information systems to the global market.

To accomplish this goal, students need to interact with the international community of IS scholars through engagement in colloquia and participation in international conferences.

Such a conference is planned for June 1-4 at the Mona Visitors' Lodge.  Fifteen international and five local IS scholars and the IS doctoral students will showcase their scholarly work over the four days.

EXTREMELY INFORMATIVE

Beyond the immediate value of accelerating the development of our students and enhancing the authenticity and quality of our PhD programme, the conference will be extremely informative for IS stakeholders in the private and public sectors.

Each presenter will discuss completed research or research in progress which examines IS problems in developing countries.  In addition, several of the invited scholars will join with local CIOs and IS practitioners in panel discussions that will spotlight important and current IS issues that are critical to the successful application of IT for economic development in Jamaica.

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060413/eye/eye4.html